Red Steam
by Artorias The Unbelievable
Summary: Itachi's hand is forced; Naruto's life is changed. With an unexpected and unfit mentor, Naruto learns about life outside of Konoha while grappling with the consequences of every move he makes. Can he become strong enough to keep the Akatsuki at bay? Will he burn out before he can defeat them? Is he the ultimate sacrifice or too great a cost? Naruto has to find out for himself.
1. A Shark, A Fox, A Toad, and Two Brothers

**Chapter 1: The Search for Tsunade! A Shark, A Fox, A Toad, and Two Brothers!**

**If you'd like to know the exact moment this story picks up, its Naruto Season 2: Episode 32**

It'd been hours, but Jiraiya was nowhere to be found. _'He's probably busy drinking the rest of my money away after getting rejected by that lady. Heh, serves him right, that perv.'_

But then, there was a knock on the hotel door. Griping about money and women, Naruto opened the door to a very unfamiliar sight.

Red eyes. Tomoe swirling. He hadn't seen red eyes since Sasuke's Sharingan. But here they were, staring into his soul, on the face of a man who looked a lot like Sasuke.

"Heh, hard to believe that such a child carries the Nine-Tailed Fox," A shark-faced ninja said as he appeared behind the Sharingan wielder in the doorway.

He spoke next. "Naruto, why don't we take a walk?" Naruto stepped out the doorway and into the hallway shaking, but never broke eye contact with him. Who were these guys, where was pervy sage?

"Say Itachi, it'd be a pain in the neck if this kid makes a run for it. Maybe I oughta chop off a leg just in case…", the shark said as he clutched the handle of his humongous sword and took a few steps towards Naruto. Petrified, Naruto could only stare into the semi-human eyes of the fearless man in front of him.

Suddenly, Itachi turned his head slightly in the direction of the end of the hall.

"It's been a long time, Sasuke."

The blue shark stopped his advance and turned around to see their new guest. "That's strange. He's got the same eyes as you, Itachi. I heard the whole Uchiha clan was wiped out… by you.

Turning to face Sasuke, Itachi let out a monotone answer to an unasked question. "He's my brother, Kisame." The tension in the air was too thick to even cut. Sasuke stared at his brother, the culmination of all his efforts but a death away.

It all started to click for Naruto, as Sasuke started a Chidori. "Itachi Uchiha! I've lived my life for one single purpose: To see you die! It ends here! Chidori!" He charged straight on, the rage that was held in check for all these years seemingly being let loose in a single move. It was violent, it was fast, and it was powerful.

But Itachi was faster.

BOOM!

As the dust settled, Naruto could see that Itachi had grabbed Sasuke's lightning infused arm and redirected it towards the wall, destroying part of the building completely. Still holding Sasuke's arm, Itachi snapped it in half with a quick wrist movement and threw Sasuke back down the hallway, making a dull thud as his body made contact with the wall.

The cracking sound and the scream of pain that ensued woke Naruto out of his trance. He knew what he needed to do. Channeling what Kyuubi chakra he could, a red dome slowly surrounded him. "Ninja art: Summoning-!" As his hands flashed through the seals, Kisame waved his sword by Naruto and through the chakra shroud, dissipating it almost immediately. "Too slow!", he roared. "My sword, Samehada, loves chakra! It devours it."

Naruto was stunned; He couldn't even feel his chakra! Putting his hands in his kage no bunshin seal, he struggled to conjure up the energy that'd always been right there, at the surface.

Kisame smirked gleefully as he spoke, saying, "We don't need this kid whipping out anymore jutsu… forget the legs, maybe I'll take his arms instead."

Naruto paled as Kisame brought his sword up, threatening to cut his arms clean off. He had to summon his chakra!

"You're wasting your time," he taunted. Kisame swung down, expecting a spray of blood. Instead, his blade was engulfed in a puff of smoke and stopped halfway to its intended target. Kisame's eyes widened as the smoke cleared enough for him to see long, white hair.

The Toad Sage had arrived.

* * *

Jiraiya had appeared behind Naruto, summoning a battle toad to block Kisame's swing.

"What kind cowards would put a genjutsu on an innocent young woman just to separate Naruto from me? I know that he's the one you're really after", Jiraiya revealed. "If you think you're walking out of here with Naruto, then you're sorely mistaken. I should just kill you both and save everyone a lot of future trouble!" It was more boasting than threatening, but the killing intent was there.

"The only one that's killing him, is me! I've lived my whole life for this day, this moment. This fight is mine!", Sasuke roared as he charged, his left hand cocked back in a fist. Itachi's swift kick to the abdomen bent him in half like hot metal, and a punch to the jaw sent him back to his first resting place, into a crumpled heap back down the hallway. But this time, Itachi followed.

Jiraiya, understanding that Sasuke stood no match against a ninja of Itachi's caliber, made a move to intervene. Kisame, however, blocked his path. "You heard him, Jiraiya of the three Sannin, this fight is none of our business. Let's let them sort it out."

Jiraiya hesitated; Should he let the brothers settle their feud? Sasuke would surely die if Itachi wished it. He could intervene, and he knew he could take Itachi, but with Kisame here to fend off and protect two genin as well… that was a lot for one man.

But Jiraiya also knew right from wrong. Besides, there were bigger plans in play, and Itachi killing Sasuke was not in them. He jab-stepped at Kisame, forcing the Ex-Kiri nin to stab Samehada into the ground, trying to slow him down. As soon as the sword made contact with the wood, Jiraiya spun to his right and let out a spray Kebari Senbon. Kisame used Samehada as a shield and avoided major injury, though a few needles got him in his left arm. Itachi, meanwhile, had deflected them all with a kunai, his 3- tomoe Sharingan spinning. "Jiraiya, don't make this harder than it needs to be. Give us Naruto."

"Like hell! I should kill both of you for even suggesting that."

Jiraiya made the critical mistake of staring Itachi down. Itachi closed his eyes. "So be it," he said, as they flashed open at Jiraiya. "Tsukuyomi!"

The blood that dripped from Itachi's left eye hit the ground before Jiraiya did. The hall was silent as Jiraiya slumped against the wall, sliding to his knees, his eyes wide and misty. "Naruto," he whispered, "run." His head slumped forward.

* * *

Kisame went to grab Naruto before he could heed Jiraiya's words, but Naruto ducked his attempt and sprinted down the hall. Of course, he wasn't fast enough to outrun either Itachi or Kisame and was tackled to the ground. He could taste the sea salt as Kisame pinned him down with his body weight. All Naruto could see was Jiraiya on the ground, one eye closed and the other misted over. '_Damnit! If I don't do anything, he's gonna hurt Sasuke and Pervy Sage!'_

Naruto overheard Itachi speaking to Sasuke. "You will never be strong enough to defeat me. You are weak because you don't hate. You're pathetic, otouto-kun. Let me show you how strong hate is." Itachi's Mangekyo Sharingan activated, spinning, drilling into Sasuke's soul. Itachi lifted him off the ground with his hand on his throat. "Tsukuyomi!"

"No! Sasuke!"

Itachi released his grip and let Sasuke fall with a thud. Itachi suddenly slumped over against the wall, sliding down next to his brother's motionless body. He was bleeding out of both eye sockets.

"... Kisame, we must go. I'm afraid I've overexerted myself. Grab the jinchuuriki."

Kisame freed one arm from his hold on a struggling Naruto and grabbed the back of the blonde's head.

_'No, no, no! Jiraiya-sensei!'_

WHAM!

* * *

Naruto's body went limp, and Kisame got up and slung him over his shoulder. He walked over to Itachi and gave him a hand. The sooner they left, the less likely that Jiraiya would get up in time to track them, if he got up at all. Kisame heard Sasuke groan as they hobbled away.

Knowing that separating themselves from Jiraiya was the key, they took to the forest, away from prying eyes, their target in tow.

Just as they left the hallway, however, another figure approached the down Konoha Shinobi...

* * *

Using his Hitai-ate as a rough mirror, Gai peered around the corner of the hallway, intent on ambushing his comrade's aggressors. There were vaguely dark shapes reflecting back but they appeared to either be crouched or prone.

_'Ah, they have expected me! I must work on my stealth in the future with Neji-kun, because if I can hide from him, then I can hide from anyone! My youth will shield me! Alright, here I go!' _Gai took some smoke bombs Tenten had given him and tossed them down the hallway. Hearing them detonate and watching the smoke billow past him, he was surprised to hear no commotion or signs of trying to escape the smoke.

_'I guess will have to overwhelm them with my superior skill! Hai!' _Gai shot off the wall he was leaned up against at a 45-degree angle to his right, landing on the far side of the hallway's wall where he twisted his body around to face the hallway, now just a cloud of thick, white gas. He shot off the wall with his left leg extended, zooming down the hallway and hoping to make contact with an opponent for a devastating kick. Instead, his leg impacted the other side of the hallway's wall, splintering it and having Gai's leg go through it all the way. Gai's upper thigh was where the outside of the wall used to be. Pulling his leg from the hole, he dropped down in a defensive position, expecting a counterattack. Instead, he found himself balancing on the body of one Uchiha Sasuke, the boy he was meant to find and return to Konoha. He was currently unconscious, even with Gai crouching on top of him.

Gai stepped off him and checked his pulse, then shook him a bit. His head bobbled this way and that, until Gai was sure he wasn't going to wake up. The smoke cleared a bit as it dispersed throughout the hotel, and Gai was able to spy Jiraiya, slumped against the wall. He made his way over carefully; this could be a trap, after all. He grabbed the large man's shoulder, shaking it. No response. _'Gah, Master Jiraiya, awaken! What happened here?'_

"Master Jiraiya! Awaken! I am in need of your assistance! Yoshhhhhh! Where is Naruto-kun?!" Gai shook Jiraiya forcefully, but Jiraiya's head simply lolled back and forth, unresponsive. _'This type of unresponsiveness is the same as Kakashi's. Could it have been Itachi? They did say they were after Naruto. Ah! Naruto-kun is either searching for a doctor or has been captured by Itachi and that other person! I will search for a doctor to heal them and then together, we will find Naruto-kun!' _

_Five minutes later..._

Gai stared down into the face of the local hospital's receptionist, her scrunched up wrinkles and round glasses not budging against Gai's humongous eyebrows. He was leaning over the reception counter, his face against the glass partition while the older woman simply stared right back. "You mean there are no doctors in this whole town? Where did they go?"

She narrowed her eyes. "Young man, the only doctors we have are currently in Tanzaku Town, on standby for the Gambling Gamut Superregional and Festival. But if you want those black creatures on your face taken off, _I _would be glad to assist you." She slowly raised a hair trimmer, which she flicked onto high and waved back and forth.

Gai flew from the glass and his skin started to redden. "Yosh! I have vowed to never be rude or unkind to the elderly, but you! Your flames of youth have burned out long ago! You are matched only by the most hip and cool ways of my eternal rival, Hatake Kakashi!" He threw his arms around as he spoke, showing her the power of his youth!

She didn't seem amused. "Yeah, sure. The insane asylum for this district is in Kinai. Perhaps a doctor there will help you. Have a good day, Shinobi- baka!" She buzzed the security button and two guards appeared and dragged Gai out. They promptly dumped him in the street. Seeing their forms retreat inside, Gai could not understand why civilian hospitals hated shinobi so much. Was it their amazing abilities that fostered jealousy?

Dusting himself off, Gai felt a pang of loneliness. _'I wish Lee-kun and my young pupils were here, they would make this trip much less lonesome. If I can reach Tanzaku Town and be back by nightfall, then I may be able to find Naruto quickly! Yosh, my team would never let a moment be wasted when his comrades were in danger!' _With new determination, Gai sprung to his feet and ran as fast as he could to Tanzaku Town, welcoming the challenge.

* * *

It was only sunset, but Gai saw the fireworks erupting overhead and it spurred him forward. He pumped chakra into his leaps from tree to tree, arriving atop the entrance gates of the town and stopping for just a moment. Immediately, the smells of barbeque and Dango hit his nostrils, the people below him dancing and shuffling through the street, all alike, like an indistinguishable blob of human.

Tanzaku Town, the unofficial gambling capital of Hi no Kuni, was packed with gamblers, entertainers, and festival-goers. Once a year, this town became a hotbed for both high rollers and the impoverished. The draw of winning the poker tournament (and the grand prize) was more than enough for some to bet everything. Gai saw the myriad of vendors peddling their wares to small children, trying hard to squeeze every penny from them they could. The clubs and gambling halls were already starting to beef up their security, hiring thugs from out of town as added measures. Gai couldn't notice any shinobi among them so far, though.

Leaping from the pinnacle of the entrance gate, Gai wasted no time in getting to the hospital; He roof hopped the low establishments until he had made it across town to the glowing high rise, its figure towering over the other buildings, bathing them and Gai in fluorescent light.

Instead of going through the front doors, Gai let his roof hopping momentum carry him through the third-floor window of the hospital. He rolled through the patient's room and into the hallway, righting himself with incredible dexterity and agility. Gai took a look at both ends of the hospital hallway. To his surprise, he neither saw nor heard anyone. No doctors making calls, no nurses checking on patients. Snaking his body flush against the interior hospital wall, Gai crept down the hallway. He stopped himself short of the turn in the hall and used his forehead protector as a rough mirror. Seeing nothing of interest, he rounded the corner.

The hairs on the back of his neck stood at attention. Was that... skin? On the floor? He squinted his eyes to make sure he wasn't hallucinating, and sure enough, on the floor laid a heap of human skin, almost like a snake's. Gai walked over to it and grabbed a chunk of it, his index finger slipping into a hole. With a grimace, Gai held up the empty husk by an eye cavity.

_'A snake... Orochimaru? Could it be?_ _He must need to be healed after Sarutobi-sama sealed his arms away. But why is no one left here? What happened?' _Gai dropped the lifeless bag of skin on the ground and started checking patient rooms. Surely someone had to be here, no?

After he passed the sixth empty room, Gai paused a moment. He heard metal moving, pulling something...

_'The elevator!' _Gai hid himself behind a door in a patient room, being careful to not let his shadow stick out into the hall. The elevator _dinged _as its doors slid open, and footsteps began echoing towards him.

"I'm telling you, Kabuto-kun, she will accept my offer. She has too much of a soft heart for Dan and Nawaki, dead as they are," the first raspy voice said.

"Yes sir, but what if she doesn't? What is our contingency plan? We've proven that no normal doctors can heal you, even I can't restore your arms." The second voice sounded younger, calmer. Gai heard the footsteps, in perfect tandem, heading straight past him.

"Yes, even my body replacement technique failed. But Kabuto-kun, as gifted as you are, Tsunade-chan is in a class all her own. Still, I suppose I'll have to wait for my next host if Tsunade-chan can't heal me. Gah, curse the Shinigami and curse Sarutobi! I hope he suffers in that ugly god's gut, he and the Yondaime both."

_'Tsunade? Of the Sannin? If she is in town, then she will definitely be able to heal Master Jiraiya and Sasuke-kun, not to mention Kakashi-san and Lee-kun! I must find her.' _Gai heard the younger voice laugh, it sounded light on the top but there was an undercurrent of evil that bounced around the hospital, echoing off the walls.

The laughter receded, and the young one spoke. "I will finish making sure we gathered an adequate number of test subjects, Orochimaru-sama. You should go rest; If Tsunade-sama decides to accept our deal, you'll need to be at full strength in case she tries anything."

"So precious, to think of your Lord's health in such trying times. Truly Kabuto-kun, what would I do without you?" There was no answer; Gai heard at least one figure melting down into the hospital floor, their chakra presence bleeding away.

The footsteps receded slowly from Gai's hearing, and after the hospital was silent, Gai slipped back out an open window, into the streets below.

* * *

Itachi never actually expected to get the nine-tailed jinchūriki. He simply had no other excuse for the situation, though. He had to pass information to Jiraiya about Akatsuki and see his little brother but to actually _get the jinchūriki... _Kisame wouldn't have just walked away from this opportunity. Calling Kisame off during their conflict with Kakashi and the other Konoha-nin was risky enough.

When Jiraiya got up, Itachi was going to be the most wanted man in the elemental nations. Konoha would be without its most powerful weapon, hidden or not. That was not ideal, for neither the Akatsuki nor Itachi. Akatsuki was still trying to keep a low profile gathering the lesser bijuu, but if Itachi was moved to priority number one on ANBU's board, then the group would catch even more publicity.

Itachi leaped from a branch in the trees to the river below, standing on the current and letting it take him, like a flat escalator. Kisame landed behind him a moment later, the boy in Itachi's thoughts resting on Kisame's blade. How Kisame managed to carry bounties like that, Itachi would never know.

He opened his mouth to speak but the blood from his lungs came out first, a gentle spray of red liquid hitting the current and dissolving into the water.

"Ne, Itachi, are you alright?"

Itachi's posture went rigid, his body tense. "I'm fine, Kisame. I will require rest, soon, to recover." _'Not to mention, to formulate a plan to get out of this predicament.' "_Using Tsukuyomi in such a manner is... exhausting."

Years of being a trained shinobi told Itachi that Kisame shifted slightly. Itachi narrowed his eyes. Kisame only reset himself when he was uncomfortable with a situation or when someone was lying. It was the smallest of tells, but it meant everything.

"Something on your mind?"

"Yeah, I mean... what're we gonna do with this kid? We can't seal his bijuu yet, so what? We just chain him to the wall for a while?"

"I don't know, Kisame. I didn't plan on taking him. I came merely to see his progress," _'and my brother's progress, as well,'_ "but the situation forced our hand. We had no excuse _not _to take him. Besides, Leader-sama will be glad since we've gotten him before he can cause us any issues." Itachi let the current take him around the bend the river, and saw water roiling over a fallen tree, hidden just beneath its surface. Itachi loved nature, the serenity of it. Things only died when they had to, water only flowed because it was meant to, nothing was ever done _naturally_ unless it had to be done. Itachi's life was, in spite of itself, quite natural. The things he'd done were born out of necessity, never want.

"Ne, Itachi. I have another question. How did Tsukuyomi take Jiraiya of the Sannin out? I heard he uses nature chakra sometimes, and from what I understand, that negates genjutsu, right?"

Itachi furrowed his brow. How did Kisame know such an intricacy about Jiraiya's sage mode? It wasn't a secret, but it also wasn't common knowledge, since anyone who had seen Jiraiya using sage mode was probably dead now. He must've heard rumors.

"He would have had to have been in Sage Mode for it stop me." Itachi didn't like Kisame's intrigue. He knew that Kisame was here only to watch over him and make sure he wasn't a mole. He was doing a terrible job thus far, letting Itachi plan their itinerary.

"Kisame, who is your target?" Itachi said, changing the subject. He knew it was Rōshi, the four tails jinchūriki from Iwagakure. Taking Kisame's mind off Jiraiya was his true aim. Like his skill of altering a kunai midair with another, he hit his target.

"Feh, the Yonbi. I'm assuming you're sitting this one out?" Itachi's silence answered him. He could feel Kisame's beady eyes on his back, waiting for the barb at his stamina to sink in. Itachi merely turned his attention back to the water around him.

"We should use the impending darkness to cover more ground. I'll rest in the morning." The water kept flowing, as it was supposed to. Itachi did the same.

* * *

Tonton squealed as the slot machine sprayed coin after coin from its slot. Tsunade could hardly believe her-

_ Luck._ "Shizune, grab my bag. We're getting out of town." The air around the blonde Sannin was cold, even as the bustle of the casino turned its attention to her. It was her third jackpot in as many minutes, and she decimated the competition in the poker tournament. The final round to decide the champion was tomorrow, but Tsunade wasn't planning on staying. Not with the surprise visit from Orochimaru last night. Apparently, the Nidaime had made a kinjutsu to revive the dead. That sounded amazing, but there always was a trick with her snake faced teammate.

She and Shizune marched out the casino through a mob of drunk, cheering gamblers. Never had Tsunade been more anxious to leave one, but sudden changes of fortune never meant well for her. She unconsciously felt her necklace, her grandfather's gift. The smooth gem felt weightless between her powerful fingers.

"Tsunade-sama, I believe we should head further into Hi no Kuni. The closer we are to Konoha, the less likely Orochimaru will follow."

The Sannin snorted. "Who said I wanted to get away from him?"

"You can't be serious! He's not going to bring them back, he's a liar! He killed your sensei!"

Tsunade knew that. She bit back telling Shizune that she didn't need to parrot what Orochimaru had told them both already. They emerged from the crowd surrounding the casino, into the mostly-clear streets of the city, vendors on both sides eyeing her full bags of coin carefully. Usually, the nightlife of the festival would overtake this area, but the casinos and clubs had pulled so many people inside that there were hardly any left outside. Tsunade hated being so visible. The women were too open, too exposed, best to get back to their room and-

Someone bumped into Tsunade from behind and her sandal caught on a rock in the street, sending her to the ground. Though rusty, her ninja reflexes saved her a spot in the mud as she shot her hands down and cartwheeled up, twisting her body around to face the idiot that knocked her over. Her eyes widened when she saw so much... green.

"Oh! So sorry! Pardon me, young lady, I am looking for the great- Yosh! Lady Tsunade, master of the medical arts and one of the three Legendary Sannin! I, Maito Gai of Konoha, require your assistance! My comrades- er, _our _comrades are in danger!" Gai waved his arms and pointed in the direction they needed to go.

"Our comrades? I don't follow."

"Master Jiraiya was attacked and put into a comatose state. Uchiha Sasuke suffered the same fate, and Uzumaki Naruto, Master Jiraiya's apprentice, is missing. I think he was captured by Uchiha Itachi and a fish!"

"A fish?"

"A fish-man!"

"Was it a fish-man or a man-fish?"

"Excellent question Tsunade-sama, it was most definitely a man-fish! Gah, your knowledge is unsurpassed!" Gai gave her a thumbs up, his teeth sparkling from a ray of light that shouldn't have been present in the darkness.

She subconsciously took a step back as the beam of light reflected off his teeth and hit her. "I'm sorry, could you repeat your name again?"

"Maito Gai, son of Maito Dai and Konoha's Green Beast!"

"Ah. I knew your father. But, well, I'm sorry Gai-san, but I don't do that type of stuff anymore. My assistant Shizune would be more than capable in my stead, for a fee."

"No, Tsunade-sama, she won't be. No medical specialist Konoha has been able to wake Kakashi up, and I fear the same jutsu that he was struck with was used on Master Jiraiya and Sasuke, too." Tsunade saw his face morph into a sort of twisted maze of tendons and muscle, all pulling down. "One of my students also lies crushed and broken in a hospital room. None of the doctors want to operate on him for fear of him dying. Tsunade-sama, you are the only hope he has left. You are the only hope _I _have left."

"He's that important to you, huh?"

Tsunade saw his chest swell with pride, and he spoke with dignity. "Rock Lee is the hardest working, kindest, most youthful shinobi I have ever seen. He has inspired me to become the taijutsu menace that I am since he can do nothing else but taijutsu. To see such a fire dimmed in one so young hurts me more than even the death of my own father did. It's as if I am watching my own child give up on his dreams. He's wanted more than anything to be a proper Konoha shinobi, but now, he's powerless. It would mean everything to me if you could return to Konoha some time to heal him!"

She just couldn't hold it in anymore. She tried but lost control. Tsunade laughed in his face, a deep one full of her gathered pessimism. "How stupid is that student of yours?" She asked, but continued to laugh, the notion of it all astounding her.

_'A boy who can't mold chakra got hurt trying to play ninja! Humph, serves him right, What a stupid idea. You can't possibly expect to succeed with a handicap like that. Such a dream is like dreaming of being Hokage: stupid, and will get you killed!'_

Shizune spoke behind her nervously. "Lady Tsunade, be more compassionate! You're being insulting to someone who _needs_ our help! Besides, Master Jiraiya is hurt. Don't you want to heal an old friend who's _not _trying to burn your home down?"

Tsunade rounded on her apprentice and put her hands on her hips, unfazed by the palpable anger coming from behind her. "Shizune, dear, I'll go and heal that old pervert Jiraiya and maybe the Uchiha kid, but what this guy is asking of me is ridiculous! If I even were able to heal him then what happens next?" Tsunade whirled to face Gai, the veins in his neck and forehead pulsating with anger. "He dies, because he can't use chakra, and that blood will not be on my hands. I've got enough of it." The thought of blood made her shudder. Dan's death replayed freshly in her mind, and it was almost like she could _smell_ the blood from that night.

_Drip._

_Drip._

_Drip._

Tsunade's eyes widened as she came back to reality, to Gai's hands, blood seeping from his balled fists. "You've never even met him, yet you mock the trials he has had to go through to be a ninja… To think how your Will of Fire has dimmed so badly over time... I do not know why Master Jiraiya wanted to find you, but I pray he doesn't, so he won't have to see what disgraces the other two Legendary Sannin have become! It is Lee's dream to be the most splendid Konoha Shinobi. Without that dream, his life is pointless! Lee would rather die trying to achieve his goal than not try at all! That is his Will of Fire! Where is yours?!" Tsunade looked on as Gai raised his blood-soaked hands and gestured with them violently, blood flying everywhere.

"If I cannot find someone to heal him, I will devote the rest of my life to learn how! My father gave me the strength to protect those I care for. I will give to Lee this very same strength if it kills both of us!"

"You're insane," Tsunade shuddered. She felt the light dabs of cloth on her face as Shizune tried desperately to get every drop of blood from her person, but she couldn't break eye contact with the maniac in front of her.

He grinned and shut his eyes, his hands on his hips. "No, Lady Tsunade, I'm _determined_. I'll do anything for Lee- kun. If I fail to heal him or to get someone who can, then I know I gave it my best shot! It is better to try and fail than assume defeat and give up!"

Shizune turned to face Gai, her mouth open in shock. Tsunade gasped. It was the same belief Nawaki and Dan both carried! Was her Will of Fire so weak as to forget what they stood for? '_Dan, Nawaki... what would you say if you saw me now?' _

Gai wasn't done yet, though. "Which is why I'm here in front of you. Master Jiraiya is injured and a ninja of Konoha is missing. Lady Tsunade, will you help us?" Gai extended a hand to her. For the first time in a long time, she didn't notice the blood on it.

Tsunade took it with her own.

* * *

A/N: I published a version of this story a year ago and I must say, I'm very glad I took it down because it was some hot _garbage._ I feel that, as an English major in college, I've improved my writing drastically, and have had this plot rolling around in my brain for a long time. I'd appreciate that you read & review my story because they only help! I have a goal of making it into "**1,000 PLUS: Extraordinary Fics with Extraordinary Reviews" **catalog one day!


	2. Rock, PTSD, Kusarigama, Shark!

A/N: I have had pretty good reviews and way more traffic than I thought I would have! Thanks everybody for R&Ring, I'll try not to let you down.

* * *

Jiraiya couldn't see anything. The darkness crept its way up to his eyes and then- the world around him was red, the moon was red, the bodies that lay in front of him were red, the blood that leaked from them was red, the rain that fell from the sky and hit his hair was- okay, you get the image. Jiraiya knew his environment even with the color wash on. It was where he had been dubbed a Sannin, where his legacy had been born. But this was not reality. It was a genjutsu, he'd been trapped in a genjutsu by an Uchiha. Fuck. Okay, no big deal. He'd be out in a heartbeat.

He had to give it to the kid, though. For Itachi being only 18 and analyzing Jiraiya's profile so much as to be able to recreate the battlefield was amazing. It was almost just as he'd remembered it, except-

"Jiraiya! Move you baka!" The feminine voice he heard tackled him from behind as a kusarigama flew overhead. What the hell? Orochimaru, a young version, jumped in front of them and cast a fire jutsu at nothing. Jiraiya rolled himself over to see Tsunade, her flak jacket bloody and in distress. She seemed to be looking at something _dangerous, _something that could _kill them_.

He froze; He was reliving it like he'd done so many nights before. _'No, It's fake! It's a genjutsu, it's not real. Kai!' _He flared his chakra, but to no avail. Metal clanking together made him focus on the chain that suddenly changed directions. The kusarigama came back quickly, intending to catch one of them off guard from the rear. Jiraiya sprang to his feet and caught it by the handle, narrowly avoiding nicking himself with its poisoned blade. He yanked hard on the taut chain.

Out of nothing, like a fisherman pulling a fish out of dark waters, Uchiha Itachi appeared on the back of a giant crow, the chain of the kusarigama wrapped around his right hand. The crow's eyes matched its rider's, Mangekyō Sharingan spinning slowly, hypnotically. Jiraiya looked at his two teammates of old, and their eyes matched the crow's. Jiraiya dropped the kusarigama in shock.

Suddenly, it was all gone. Everything was still red, but now he and Itachi were face to face, alone on an open, desolate plain. A table sprang from the dry earth beside them, two chairs following shortly after. Jiraiya sat down in one, but he didn't know why, he just felt _compelled to. _Itachi followed suit.

"Jiraiya-sama, I trust that my methods of confirming your identity were not too harmful, yes?"

Jiraiya had so many things he wanted to say, but, "yes," was the only thing that came out his mouth.

"I created the scene based on what I gathered from Orochimaru's mind when I almost killed him, as well as compounding the data of your team's mission reports about the incident. As for here, this place... you are within my Tsukuyomi."

Jiraiya eyed him carefully. Itachi always looked the same, the same dead face. Only now it was thinner than it was when Itachi had defected, his sickness becoming more apparent. Jiraiya couldn't help but smile, though, when Itachi himself gave the slightest hint of comfort.

_'Ought to crack the ice first, this is his first report in two years,' _he thought, as the boy across from him let a bit of color drain into the world around them. The table was now brown, and Jiraiya's hair was white.

"Well, you did pretty good recreating it considering you weren't there! Not to nitpick the setup but it's pretty, um, how you say, monotone? A little bit of color in there would really spruce it up. Not to mention, the scene was excellent except there weren't any clouds in the sky when we faced Hanzō. Just rain, lots of rain." Jiraiya leaned back in his chair, proud of his faux- critiquing act. It was funny, he was a funny guy.

Itachi didn't move, but the table went back to being red. So did Jiraiya's hair. _'Ever the perfectionist, kid is way too tough on himself. Some things never change, ne, Itachi?' _

Jiraiya sighed. "Hey, Itachi, you did well. 'Trapping' me here was a good move; It saves your cover because it appears like an attack, while also gifting us with privacy. You know, I was beginning to worry about you. You've missed a lot of deadlines in the past few years. All of them, actually. I understand it's odd to report to me and not Danzō anymore, but it's safer this way."

No change in his demeanor, no reason to think he'd been turned by Akatsuki. "I apologize. That was when Kisame was assigned to me. He is vigilant and doesn't handle betrayal well. Besides, I told Danzō I would kill him if my brother saw harm from his hand. I need to make sure, now that Hokage-sama is dead."

Jiraiya nodded his approval, then said, "So before you catch me up to speed, I need to know how we're gonna deal with this current predicament we're in. You know, the one where I'm trapped here and Sasuke is about to die and you're about to take Naruto."

It was Itachi's turn to nod. "Hai, Jiraiya-sama. I'm not going to kill my brother, only push him further. But my hand is forced currently; Tsukuyomi leaves the victim physically and mentally exhausted afterward because here, time is my own construct. I can keep you here for 72 hours, though in the real world it will be only a moment. You will not simply rise to your feet."

Normally, Jiraiya would joke about his stamina and offer to give Itachi a list of women who could vouch for him, but this had to do with Naruto's safety. "So, I'll be out of commission, okay, fine. There should be somebody coming to get Sasuke; No way he just shows up by himself like this. What're you gonna do with Naruto?"

"Jiraiya-sama, we're going to have to take him."

"Where?"

"Out of Hi no Kuni," Itachi said. "Leader is based in Amegakure, but we don't have to go there to seal or hold him hostage. There are hideouts in every Shinobi Nation, though I only know of one. I plan our routes, so I will be sure not to visit it. We also cannot seal the Kyuubi until much later, due to its potency. I fear if we bring Naruto in now then-"

"Then they'll torture him," Jiraiya finished coldly. "Itachi, you know this is going to be reported to Konoha and that ANBU will be watching you so closely they'll know when you pick your own nose. So how do we get Naruto back without blowing your cover or forcing you to kill Konoha Shinobi? Because once Naruto is back in Konoha's possession, they lay off."

Itachi sat in silence for a moment. Jiraiya saw the calculating look on his face, the famed Uchiha intelligence being put to use. "I'm assuming that my cover cannot be blown, but also that Naruto is not allowed to be sealed or captured under any circumstances, correct?"

Jiraiya nodded. Itachi furrowed his brow, plans coalescing in his mind. "Kisame's target is the Yonbi. Kisame should be able to win the fight by himself, but I have yet to tell him that my crow spotted the Yonbi jinchūriki traveling with the Gobi jinchūriki in Kawa no Kuni."

"So if you were to happen to _run into _these two jinchūriki and let Kisame have all he can handle, then I could reverse summon Naruto to Mt. Myoboku without Kisame knowing and it would be plausible that he ran off, correct?"

"I'm not so sure, Jiraiya-sama. That is a risky plan that involves precise timing. Better to let Kisame fight the jinchūriki on his own, tire himself out, and then I will either kill him myself or let them kill him. At that point, I could send a crow alerting you it is safe to reverse summon him and tell Leader that Kisame died from the jinchūriki, like Biwa Jūzō did against Yagura."

"Alright, we'll do it your way. I'll track you to Kawa no Kuni, so we shouldn't be too far behind you. If you're certain you can kill Kisame without risking your cover, then I'd say go for it. I know Kiri would appreciate it; It might actually go a long way with whoever the new Mizukage is. Plus, in case Naruto ever gets into this situation again, we'll have this reverse summoning trick still up our sleeve."

For the first time, Itachi smiled. His wickedly calm face reminded Jiraiya of Fugaku, but he didn't dare say that.

"It shall be done, Jiraiya-sama. Now, I must protect and preserve my identity here in Akatsuki, so I hope you'll forgive me."

"Forgive you for wh- Gah!" Jiraiya gasped in shock as a wooden tanto burst through his chest from behind him. His chair had morphed, like an evil version of Hashirama's Mokuton. Jiraiya couldn't move from the chair as a hundred more versions of Itachi appeared, brandishing kunai. They all took turns slicing him mercilessly, the eyes and thighs being the worst spots.

Just as Jiraiya felt himself slipping away, he popped back to the moment before, the Itachi clones still surrounding him, but this time the chair had restraints on it and locked Jiraiya into place.

The clone closest to Jiraiya spoke, the kunai gleaming red in the moonlight. "Only 71 hours, 59 minutes, and 59 seconds remain, Jiraiya-sama."

* * *

Mumbling. Jiraiya heard mumbling. He didn't open his eyes in case Itachi or Kisame had hung around. Maybe Itachi was wrong and Jiraiya out willed the Tsukuyomi? The voices became clearer, a distinct feminine ring among them. _'Maybe it's just the hotel staff. Though I doubt they'd be here this time of night... Only one way to find out!' _

Jiraiya sprung to his feet, his hair coiling around him and hardening, forming a defensive shell in preparations for a trap.

"Jiraiya-sama! You're finally awake!"

Jiraiya could've sworn he heard Shizune, Tsunade's apprentice, but that was impossible.

"Oi! Jiraiya you baka, get out of there and thank me before I punch you through the moon!"

Okay, that was _definitely _Tsunade. Letting his hair soften and the light enter his cocoon, Jiraiya's eyes burned at the sudden brightness. Everywhere was bright, somehow, like it was morning or something-

"Good morning, Master Jiraiya! I see Tsunade's youthful flames have lit you ablaze! I was worried you had been extinguished!" Jiraiya's head hurt, but it wasn't the worst pain in the world. The worst was when he saw Maito Gai clad head to toe in green spandex. He quickly shut his eyes again and tried to shake the genjutsu off, but it was no use. Itachi's Tsukuyomi was getting clever now, torturing him psychologically rather than physically.

"Glad you're alive Jiraiya. Now can you explain to us what the hell happened here?" Tsunade crossed her arms. "I finished up on the Uchiha not too long ago. Go take a look at him if you want, besides that seal on his neck he's right as rain. Never would've guessed that you would take an Uchiha as an apprentice."

Jiraiya rubbed his eyes, the pain not seceding. "I didn't. He came here on his own accord, which is why Gai is here, I guess, to take him back. It would've been nice if you'd have been about two minutes earlier, by the way, Gai."

"Hai Master Jiraiya, I shall never be late again! In fact, I will be an hour early for everything! That way I will always be where I am needed!"

Jiraiya smiled through the foggy brain. He had to turn on the subterfuge and the deception to protect Itachi now. His true loyalties had to remain buried for the sake of Konoha and her future. "Uh-huh, that's great Gai. Where's Naruto? He should be right here."

Gai's face turned grim as the room settled its gaze on him. "I'm afraid that when I arrived, Naruto- kun was gone. It is speculation but I believe Naruto was taken by the Akatsuki!"

"Shit. Well, do we have any leads?"

"None that have been made public," Tsunade said. "Jiraiya, I really think we shouldn't move until the Uchiha wakes up. His mind was torn to shreds by his brother; it was terrifying. I don't know if I'd want to face Uchiha Itachi in this life. Besides, we don't know where they went. We can't track them properly."

"Let's get some professionals then. After I take a look at the kid, I catch you two up to speed and we vote that somebody goes and gets an ANBU Tracking Unit. Naruto is worth the resources, destroyed village or not." Shizune, Gai, and Tsunade all nodded.

_'Naruto,' _Jiraiya thought, _'we're coming. Hold on, we're coming.'_

* * *

As the boat rocked lightly amidst the wake that Kisame's water jutsu created, Itachi felt very thankful for the Suiton user. Instead of having to put chakra to his feet all night to stay upright, Kisame summoned a shark that found a boat and ate the people in it so that he and Itachi could rest for a bit before arriving at Kawa no Kuni. It was practical, but a bit thoughtful as well. It was going to be a real shame to kill the Kiri missing-nin, but it would be natural for Itachi, though notably less so than stabbing his father's eyes out after he'd slit his throat.

If there was an inkling of satisfaction to be taken from that night, it was in that bloody moment. Fugaku had never cared about Sasuke; The _eyes _he was so famous for had missed their family's true hero, the one that was going to lead them to better places. _'Sasuke... It's all up to you, now. Gain the power of the Mangekyō so you can take these cursed eyes from me. My time is coming to an end, and I need the rest.' _

The boat gently curved down the river, their destination close.

* * *

Tsunade had said Sasuke's mental issues predated his latest injury, so there would likely need to be more recovery time. Shizune had done an excellent job on his arm, though, and it was pretty much back to normal, albeit with likely soreness. Jiraiya wasn't worried about the kid, but he was the hot topic at the moment. They'd been here in this little parlor room explaining the Uchiha situation for the last hour to Tsunade and Shizune, who looked about as done with it as Jiraiya was.

Jiraiya spoke up. "I think we send Gai back without the kid. That way Gai gets back faster to get a tracking team and we have an extra set of eyes on deck in the meantime. I don't trust the kid to run off on him anyway, after the stunts he pulled to get into this mess. Besides, we've got to find Naruto."

Gai nodded his head emphatically. "I agree! I will make it back to Konoha in half the time it took to get here!"

Tsunade chimed in, "What makes you think he's not going to run from us? I'm not a babysitter, Jiraiya." She folded her arms across her chest, and Jiraiya couldn't help but look there when he answered her.

"I know Tsunade-hime, but Shizune is! Right, Shizune?"

"Wha-wha-what! Me? Why do I have to watch the kid!?" Tonton jumped from Shizune's grasp as the dark-haired medic became irate.

"My flames of youth shall carry me when I tire!" Everybody sweat-dropped as Gai kept on with his ranting, the two kunoichi still not used to it.

Jiraiya put his hands on his hips, letting his exasperation show. "Oh, come on ladies! He's gonna be highly motivated since Naruto is with Itachi. Naruto and he are teammates, too! There's every reason for him to want to be here and find his brother, which will lead us to Naruto, which is the most important part! Naruto!"

"He's also a liability, Jiraiya. Itachi might not be so easy on him next time. He's in way over his head on this one," Tsunade shot back.

The four ninjas heard the sliding panel of the backroom open and watched as Uchiha Sasuke appeared, leaning on the frame with a shoulder, his arms crossed coolly. "There's just one problem with that, old man. I _don't _want to find Itachi now. I want to find out why Naruto is so important to him and why I'm not worth the ground under his feet. I couldn't even touch him... " Sasuke's hands dropped to his side and balled up, the muscles in his arms coming alive, straining against his skin. "I couldn't touch Gaara either, even with the new power I have..."

Jiraiya felt it before he saw it: malevolent, dark chakra, the kind he'd felt many times before. Tsunade gritted her teeth next to him. She knew this chakra as much as he did. The black flames spread from Sasuke's left side to the middle of his face, one of his eyes changing colors as it stared back at Jiraiya. _'So, this is the curse mark Kakashi told me about... Guess I'll have to fix it later.'_

"And if Naruto can beat Gaara, but lose to Itachi, then I'm light-years below him. Even you lost, didn't you?" Sasuke took a step towards them, but Jiraiya just laughed.

"No more than Orochimaru did when he tried to kill Itachi. In fact, I think I lasted longer! Shows how strong that hickey he left you is_, dobe_."

Jiraiya saw Sasuke wince at the name he used to- well, still does call Naruto. They hadn't lost the gaki yet.

He folded his arms and observed the young Uchiha's demeanor. He didn't seem particularly angry, just upset. '_Didn't think I knew anything about you, huh, Uchiha? Let's see what happens when I push your buttons a little bit.' _"In fact, the only reason I ended up on the floor in the first place is because _you_ had to rush in and play the avenger. You had to know Itachi wasn't gonna let you run up to him and poke him with your little lightning party trick, right? Geez, kids these days are so dumb."

That must've struck a nerve. Sasuke growled out, "How am I the dumb one for trying to avenge my clan? What would you even know about what I saw that night, about why I have to kill him?"

The Uchiha's voice was fluctuating, and Jiraiya couldn't help but wonder if it was from puberty or the Cursed Seal. Jesus, he hated kids. He let out a sigh that was more from mental fatigue than actual contempt, but he really was not in the mood for this conversation. This Orochimaru bullshit had to wait until they found Naruto, but he might as well address it now.

"You're dumb because you took power from the weakest of us Three Sannin. Seriously kid, Orochimaru's specialty is _escaping situations _and _trickery._ How is that gonna help you kill someone like Itachi? Enlighten me, _dobe._"

Sasuke's flame markings spread all the way over his body, Orochimaru's chakra expanding through his network. He had a snarl on his face as an animal would. _'Hn, so anger triggers it. The more unstable he becomes, the more power he gets. Hell of a combo.' _A perfect time to test the limits of the seal with some good acting, then!

Summoning his stage voice and putting himself into a faux-huff, Jiraiya laid into the boy: "And what do _I _know? In case you don't know who I am, who _we _are," Jiraiya nodded to Tsunade, "we're the Legendary Sannin. We survived a war! We faced Hanzo the Salamander and lived; He's a guy who would make your brother look like a chūnin, in case ya didn't know.

"To top all that, the same guy that shared those experiences with us decided to beat the shit out of our friends, leave the village, then come back years later to destroy our home and kill our sensei. So, what would _you _know about anything?" Jiraiya gave him a hard stare to cap off his performance. It was pretty satisfying to put the boy in his place. Maybe Sasuke was actually listening and not-

The energy output from Sasuke exploded. The black marks on him burned with chakra ready to be used, his face more akin to a crazed animal than a human. Just as Jiraiya was about to restrain him, Tsunade stuck her arm out in front of him, blocking his way to Sasuke.

Jiraiya saw Gai and Shizune both tense up, but Tsunade seemed to have it all under control.

"Let me deal with this spoiled brat," she said, "I'm beginning to see why my Grand Uncle detested you Uchiha so much. Arrogant, thinking you can control something from Orochimaru. Stupid is a better word."

"Don't you dare insult my clan!" Lightning erupted from Sasuke's hand. He screamed as he shot towards her, the gap between his hand and Tsunade's exposed chest his only enemy.

In a flash, it was all over. She had stepped around the jab, grabbed his arm and pulled him in close for a left-handed palm strike to the chest. She stood in the finishing move pose while Sasuke was _somewhere_ _else_ in the building currently, after having been blasted through the walls of every room behind him.

The room was dead silent as Tsunade smiled and said, "Well, Shizune, you should probably go get him and make sure I didn't cave his chest cavity in. Those tend to get messy. Gai, you should probably get back to the village if we're going to find Jiraiya's little sidekick."

Gai looked pale but nodded and saluted. "Hai Tsunade-sama!" He jetted out the door before Jiraiya could even move. He turned to tell Shizune to be careful, but she too was gone.

When did Tsunade take control of this situation? When did she decide to be in charge? Jiraiya rubbed his temples; this could make bringing her back to be Hokage either very difficult or very easy...

Oh well. "You've changed a bit, Tsunade. Here I thought you'd be trying to run away from me and everything else, but you healed me and just taught the kid a valuable lesson in humility! If I were lesser skilled, I'd have thought you were someone else! And you haven't had a drink all day. What gives?"

She laughed, but it was playful and sarcastic. "It's 8 in the morning you baka, mimosas don't start until 10. Besides," her tone shifted into a soft whisper, "I remembered the legacy I have to uphold." Jiraiya saw her hand grab the Shodai's necklace, and instantly knew what she meant. He couldn't help but crack a smile. Maybe the time away from the village had been good for her.

Tsunade let her hand fall back to her hip. "So, Gai told me you were coming to find me before you got put under by Itachi. Mind telling me why? And if you came all the way out here to ask me about healing Hatake, I'm gonna tear your head off. I've lost valuable gambling hours on this detour."

This was it: his now or never shot to get Tsunade to come home. Jiraiya gulped and was suddenly hyperaware of his surroundings. The dry, bitter taste of wood particles in the air, the sweat running down his back; Tsunade's index finger tapping her side _tap tap tap tap tap tap _over and over again, her eyes being soft but somehow still stubborn; The birds from outside whispering sweet nothings to one another in the trees, how the river outside flowed so quickly-

_'Itachi, you clever dog. Taking the river to Kawa no Kuni. Well, since Tsunade isn't Hokage yet, I guess I'll have to act like this is all a surprise.' _"Shit! Tsunade! That's how they weren't detected by Gai! They took the _river._" Tsunade tried to get a word in edgewise to figure out what he was talking about, but Jiraiya wouldn't let her. He knelt down and began feeling for his map. "Think about it, Tsu-chan! Itachi's partner is Hoshigaki Kisame, probably the best Suiton user alive right now. Freak with a sword and freakier with water. Plus," he pulled the map out of his vest, slammed it down onto the floor, and pointed out the nearest river, "it flows to Kawa no Kuni. Once they're out of Hi no Kuni, they can just go right through Kawa no Kuni to wherever else they want and not a damn thing will be able to stop them."

Tsunade pulled him from his musings when she put a hand on his shoulder. "Jiraiya? I feel like there's something you're not telling me. Something about the kid, something about the situation, something. What can be so urgent that healing a top Jōnin and getting revenge against Orochimaru aren't top priorities?"

Jiraiya froze. Did she really not know? He didn't want to look up and meet her eyes. He didn't want her to see how irresponsible he had been with Minato and Kushina's child. "Tsunade... I... Naruto is Kushina's son, which means...," her hand slipped off his shoulder. Jiraiya rose, his back still to her.

"Which means he houses the Kyuubi," she finished. "Is that what Itachi wants? Or is it because he's Minato's son?"

"Neither, kind of," he said. He twisted his body around, the terror in her eyes matching his calm orbs. "The Akatsuki's main goal is to gather all the Bijū together. For what purpose, I don't know yet. Power is an obvious candidate."

"Yeah," Tsunade eye-rolled, "he's not only the jinchūriki of the strongest tailed beast, but he's the child of the Yondaime Hokage. Jesus, the kid's got all the tools to be the next Hokage in a few years."

Jiraiya looked at her with the utmost seriousness. "He could also be one of the most highly valued targets in the Shinobi World, _but he's an idiot._ He needs to learn how to defend himself. I was going to teach him the Rasengan on this trip, maybe take him with me for a while afterward. If no one can pin him down to one place, then they can't get him. That was the idea with this trip, anyway, but look at what happened." His head tilted down in shame, but Tsunade crossed her arms and gave him a sympathetic look.

"Oh Jiraiya, don't beat yourself up. The Uchiha kid is dangerous and you were put in a bad spot. It happens. Let's make it up to Kushina and Minato for being bad Godparents by getting their kid back, yeah?"

Jiraiya paused a moment; It was truly amazing to see Tsunade like this: positive, sober, _helpful. _It was almost like they were teammates again, like in Itachi's nightmare genjutsu, but without the nightmare. "Yeah, Tsunade-chan, let's do that."

"Uh, one issue guys!"

"Huh?" Jiraiya and Tsunade said simultaneously as Shizune came crashing through the door.

"I think you should seal this mark on his neck now, Jiraiya-sama. It's really hot on his skin, and the heat from it alone is giving him a sort of pseudo-fever," Shizune said as she set Sasuke down on the floor softly, his exposed chest bearing a huge purple bruise in the middle.

Tsunade narrowed her eyes. "Do you think it's because Orochimaru is so close by?"

"That has to be it. It seems like it is controlling his emotions when he's under duress," Jiraiya said. "Kakashi told me he put some sort of willpower seal on it, but judging from earlier, the kid's willpower is pretty weak. Eh, I'll fix it."

Tsunade laughed. "The Uchiha always were the emotional ones."

* * *

Birds chirped and fluttered through the trees as two figures stepped off their docked boat and into Kawa no Kuni, the sun shining brightly on their dark robes.

Han narrowed his eyes at the dark-clad pair, the 'monster hunters' as they were often called. The sword on the larger one's back seemed to squirm as the duo turned their backs to the river and started north down a well-used road, going the opposite direction of the Iwa jinchūriki.

He and Rōshi knew the larger one as Hoshigaki Kisame, the Monster of the Mist. It was impossible to miss him with one of the Seven Legendary Swords on his back. Yet, his companion was relatively unknown. Neither he nor Rōshi had been close enough to see the village marker on his hitai-ate after several hours of following them upriver, and the man's lithe frame seemed infantile compared to Kisame's bulk.

Dropping from his perch in the trees, Han landed softly near Rōshi. His steam armor shifted slightly and clicked against itself, the red plates tapping where they overlapped one another. He removed his furnace from his back slowly, being as quiet as he could out of respect for Rōshi. His hat, black gi, armored breastplate, and arm covers followed until only his lower half was still covered. Taking the water in his furnace, he created steam using his Kekkei Genkai. It swirled around his body, cleansing his pores and destroying his scent.

After pulling the excess moisture from his skin, he sat down next to Rōshi and began to copy him. The 'old man' was meditating again, his peace and silence something Han never wanted to disturb. He knew how grouchy Rōshi could get. Despite being only 47 years old, he had the temper and demeanor of Ōnoki.

The mission that brought them to Kawa no Kuni in the first place was checking on the Katabami Gold Mine. In truth, it was a cover for moving the two jinchūriki out of Tsuchi no Kuni for a while, allowing them to train and gain better mastery over their tailed beasts away from Tsuchi no Kuni's residents in case things got out of hand. Rōshi thought some other conspiracies were at play but he had no proof, of course. Missions like these were not uncommon for them.

The two jinchūriki didn't necessarily like each other, but they respected one another and their similar paths. Both had been made jinchūriki by Iwagakure and served in the 3rd Shinobi World War. Both were related to Ōnoki, the Tsuchikage, albeit distantly in Rōshi's case. Both had been beaten by Namikaze Minato and been tagged by the man's seals, permanent reminders of their losses. Han's was on his cheek, the main reason he started wearing a face mask. Rōshi's was on his forehead, where he has since moved his hitai-ate to cover it. They both were visible now, Rōshi taking his headpiece off to meditate, Han sliding his facemask down.

Han drew in a deep breath and shut his eyes, pulling his chakra to the surface. He recited the 'Will of Stone' as best he could remember:

_'Immovable will, what is in me._

_ Day by long day, a rock to me. _

_Not granite, not quartz, not marble, not lime, _

_but that which is sacred, that which is mine. _

_Whosoever believe in thy self,_

_ shall have a quarry to behold, filled with lasting wealth.'_

It'd been a say-before-you-die prayer in the war, but it stuck with Han closely, because every day was a war in Iwagakure. After their loss in the 3rd Great Shinobi War, times had been tough in Tsuchi no Kuni. The loss of missions coupled with the weakening of military might in Iwagakure had truly crippled a great nation. Of course, only a few years after the end of the war, a drought suddenly struck the countryside, which forced the village to import food from other Shinobi Nations. The humiliation of it all hadn't helped their Kage's temper or Iwa's political alliances. Kumo was still playing nice, but they did that with everyone.

_'Just biding their time...,' _Han thought, his hands tightening. His body sweated as his Kekkei Genkai flared, heating the moisture in the air around him tremendously.

He couldn't stop thinking about A, the current Raikage. The man was a few years junior to Han, but his pride and boastfulness had left a sour taste in the mouths of the many Iwa Shinobi he came in contact with that lived, Han included. Memories of the war flooded back, memories of the dark-skinned, blonde-haired boy that led countless Shinobi to their death.

_**'Remain calm, young one. That was many years ago. The world has changed, A has changed. It is not your fight anymore, be still.' **_Immediately, Han felt the Gobi's aura envelop him, calming his chakra.

_'Hai, Kokuō. I apologize.'_

Han was startled from his conversation when a foot jammed itself in his chest and tipped him backwards. He landed flat on his back, opening his eyes to a terrible sight.

"Oi! You mind keeping your sweat to yourself?"

On top of him stood Rōshi, the minuscule jinchūriki of the Yonbi. He looked quite angry, ready to berate Han for his accidental steam usage. Maybe Han had been wrong; Maybe Rōshi didn't respect him as much as Han respected Rōshi.

"I've been here all morning long trying to talk to that big ape and what happens when I'm close to entering my mindscape? The minute you sit down, I start _sweating! _I'm talking beads of sweat down my neck and back! I ought to melt you for that, you useless giant!"

Han remembered Kokuō's words. "I apologize, Rōshi-san. It was not my intention to interrupt you," he said.

"Feh," Rōshi said as he stepped off Han, "that's what I thought. You're so weak! Sometimes I forget you actually fought in the war; What made you so soft?" Rōshi continued to gripe to himself as he slipped his headpiece back on and stomped into the woods, his voice fading.

Han got up and slipped his armor on, every strap he tightened whined and the armor plating he adjusted clicking together like a symphony. Placing his hat back atop his head after buckling his furnace in, he felt uncomfortable, awkward in his own skin. Was he really soft? He wasn't soft in the 3rd War, where his job was to be a shock trooper and use his Bijū to disorient and confuse the enemy platoons. He had been a good Shinobi; His reputation and status within Iwagakure supported that. Why, then, did he feel so uncertain about the power he wielded?

Suddenly, Rōshi came back, still muttering to himself with his head down. He approached Han slowly, his hands on his hips. "With the two Akatsuki here, I'm on edge. I haven't fought anybody worth the time in a long time. I'm getting old now, old enough to start thinking back to when we were young. Sometimes I feel like-"

"Like you never left the war," Han finished, amazed though he was that he had received an apology, he nodded in understanding. "Every night I fight the same fight that I've fought for almost 20 years. Our... approaches may be different, but we are cut from the same cloth, Rōshi... senpai."

Han never saw it coming: Rōshi picked his head up and _smiled. _"_Senpai my ass! _If that's a potshot at calling me old, I'll take you on any time, you ole no brow, sweaty, firework lookin' bastard! I'll light you up!" he exclaimed, a gleam in his eye telling Han he wasn't joking. Then he stuck a small, calloused hand on Han's shoulder, stretching to reach it. "Besides... it's nii. Rōshi-nii."

All of a sudden, laughter filled their campsite, and Han spun to look behind him into the trees.

"Ah, yes. Truly touching!_" _

"..."

The two dark-clad Shinobi were resting on a tree branch, high above the two jinchūriki. The younger, dark-haired one simply stared. Hoshigaki Kisame, meanwhile, dropped down, coming face to face with Han and Rōshi.

"Hoshigaki! What do you want, tuna-breath?" Rōshi spat.

"Other than a good fight? Your life!"

Kisame's partner's mouth was hidden by his collar, his Akatsuki robe many sizes too large for his small body. "Don't make this difficult."

Kisame smirked. "Better yet, do. Samehada _loves _Bijū chakra." The sword on his back squirmed around. "We thought we would ambush you when you went for our clones, but you animals didn't take the bait. So!" Kisame unbuckled his sword and smashed it into the ground, a divot forming from the impact. "I'll be your executioner today."

Kisame's wicked grin did little to scare the jinchūriki, but the boy still sitting atop the tree branch was an unknown. Who was he, what were his abilities?

"Kisame," the boy said, "I'm going to take my leave now. Hand me the Kyūbi container; there's no need for him to be damaged during this fight. Secure the other jinchūriki and let's be on our way."

On command, Samehada burst from its wrappings and spat an unconscious orange blob from its insides. Han watched as the boy leaped from the tree branch and grabbed the body. As he landed beside Kisame, he paused a moment. His red eyes appeared, striking fear in Han's heart. Uchiha were much more dangerous than many people realized; He'd fought plenty of them in the war.

"Han, that's-"

"Uchiha Itachi!" Han finished. "I thought he was a myth, one of Konoha's many boogeymen."

"To be merely a boy and have killed so many, kin or otherwise... He reminds me of us. No mercy in this world we live in today. No mercy, just how I'm going to do to this fish-muncher here!" Rōshi ran through seals as he raised his hands to his mouth. "Yōton: Scorching Rocks Jutsu!" Several boulder sized balls of lava shot from his mouth in quick succession, partially solidifying as the air-cooled the molten rock.

Itachi evaded deftly, vanishing into the woods with the unknown boy under his arm. Kisame, however, had more trouble. He threw Samehada straight into the air so it wouldn't be damaged, but he was clipped in the ribs, burning through the Akatsuki robe and his skin easily. As he caught Samehada before it hit the ground, the two jinchūriki could openly see Kisame's left lung pulse as he breathed, the lava not being enough to collapse it.

"Ouch," Kisame said, feeling what was left of his midsection. "Not bad, Yonbi. But I hope you're more than a one-trick pony. Suiton: Great Exploding Water Colliding Wave!"

Water poured from Kisame's mouth as Han and Rōshi fled from the clearing, Kisame engulfing the entire area in water. The river that was next to them became invisible, the amount of water atop the current making it nonexistent. Trees were knocked down and destroyed, the water rising higher and higher. Soon, it was just Kisame and the two jinchūriki staring at one another, alone across a vast plain of water. Kisame dropped to his knees, leaning heavily on his sword.

"Welcome to my world, boys! Samehada has been dying to try different flavors of bijū chakra. I'd be careful about getting _bit, _if I were you. Do you know what they used to tell us in Kiri? 'The weak are meat, the strong eat.' Samehada and I," he wheezed, the blood from his now ruptured wound pouring out from the strain of performing such a taxing jutsu, "we eat!" Slowly, his ribs and surrounding tissue regenerated, the flesh more pinkly colored than the rest of his blue body. Rising to his feet, he swung Samehada up to rest on his shoulder.

Han let some steam puff out his furnace, bending it to his fists in preparation to attack. "Rōshi?"

"What, Han?" Rōshi said as he readied his lava armor, the lava around his legs creating steam with the water's surface.

"I have a feeling that this will not be an easy battle."

"The best ones never are, unfortunately."

* * *

Next Time! Lava Meets Water and Makes Steam!


	3. Convergence, Blood, Intentions, Ripples

_Midday..._

The gates of Konoha stood proud, towering above the forest that surrounded them. Like a beacon in the night, they gave hope for anyone that could see them. The village would be back on its feet in no time, but until then, the gates were the most important (and prominent) defense. For this reason, the best, most experienced Shinobi Konoha had available was on guard duty.

Two Chūnin.

"Hey, Izumo?"

"What's up?"

Kotetsu pointed straight above them, a herd of clouds sky walking above. "What does _that_ cloud look like to you?"

Izumo narrowed his eyes, focusing on the largest white blob. "Uh, gee I dunno, maybe a teacup?"

"No way! That's an elephant through and through, dude."

"You're seeing things."

"You're blind," Kotetsu huffed. "All that hair in your face..."

"You have just as much hair as me!" Izumo shot back.

"Yeah but it's not in my face, dude!"

Neither of them noticed the trail of dust that flew past as they argued. If they would have looked really close, it would have been spearheaded by a green blur.

* * *

_Midday, somewhere in Kawa no Kuni..._

A dozen angry water sharks surfaced the lake, their movements precise and structured, falling into an attack formation. As they bounded out the water _here _and _there, _molten balls of lava started raining down upon them, hitting a few before the rest dove deep. Kisame watched as the two Jinchūriki got back to back, waiting for the attack. Suddenly, Han grabbed Rōshi and threw him in the air.

"Yōton: Scorching Rocks Jutsu!" Rōshi fired a single, thick ball of lava down at Han, who sidestepped and let it hit the water. It steamed gloriously, the water boiling from the intense heat. Kisame watched in disbelief as Han took the steam gathered and, just as his water sharks surfaced to eat the Jinchūriki alive, slammed his fists into the water.

"Futton: Evaporating Shockwave!" The steam that had gathered shot out, dissipating the sharks instantly, the top of the water steaming slightly from the intense increase in temperature. The jutsu wasn't enough to hit Kisame, but he did feel a gust of hot air blow by him, ruffling Samehada's remaining bandages.

Han charged, capitalizing on his surplus of steam. Kisame dodged and weaved around the numerous kicks and punches, his cheeks and forearms burning from the steam exposure. _'Gah! The lava is vaporizing my Suiton techniques and making steam! So, while I cancel out one's abilities, I only make the other stronger!' _He ducked a steam-infused punch and pushed off the water, flying back and running through hand seals.

"Suiton: Water Wall!" Two lava boulders smashed into the nature construct, steam emanating from it as the water dissipated. Kisame jumped over Han's follow-up kick that smashed through the weakened Water Wall. His fingers were halfway through another set of hand seals when a ball of fiery rock smacked into his left side, sending him hurtling into the water.

He sunk and thumped into a tree, falling down to its base where he met the 'ocean floor' softly. Kisame roared as he pulled himself up, air bubbles going everywhere.

_'This is tougher than I thought. Zetsu's sources didn't say they worked together. In fact, I thought Han had left Iwa years ago! Their abilities and excellent teamwork complement each other too well, and the steam ninjutsu puts me at quite the disadvantage type-wise. Itachi could most likely bring one of them down, but he's too tired to actually be of use right now. It can't be helped; A tactical retreat with the Jinchūriki we already have, or we pair up and take these two down.' _

He created a water clone to distract the Jinchūriki for a moment, then pulled out parchment paper and began to write. Once he finished, he summoned his favorite shark, a fast hammerhead, and gave him the scroll. It shot off into the underwater forest, disappearing from sight.

Kisame felt the clone dissipate. Realistically, he could sit underwater and wait the Iwa Jinchūriki out or harass them from range with his water ninjutsu. Neither of them had broken the surface of the water yet, and Kisame didn't think either of them would be stupid enough to try to battle him in an aquatic environment.

That is until several javelin-sized, steaming rock spears penetrated the tree he was leaning on. Forced to move as they wedged themselves into where he had just been, Kisame yanked Samehada towards him and deflected two more. Samehada screamed as the heat from the spears burned its wraps away and singed its scales.

Kisame, however, saw it as a necessary evil; by judging the angle the spears flew down at, he knew where at least one of the jinchūriki was. Kicking off the ground, he surfaced the water mere feet behind Rōshi. With the Jinchūriki's back still turned, Kisame swung _hard._

The figure in front of him dispersed into hot steam. Kisame jumped back too late; his exposed skin was deeply burned. Before he could turn around to block the incoming strike he knew was coming, his feet were grabbed by the real Rōshi, hidden under the surface of the water. Instead of fighting it, he let the old Jinchūriki take him under.

They had _no idea_ who they were dealing with.

* * *

Han watched as Rōshi dragged Kisame under the surface of the murky water; why his hotheaded companion had chosen to engage the _Monster of the Mist _in his natural element, Han would never know. Kisame was Rōshi's natural counter- they both had massive reserves, but Kisame beats fire elemental jutsu with his water techniques. Regardless, Han knew Rōshi wanted Kisame on his own. They had bad blood; a mission went awry years ago when Kisame was still serving Kirigakure, killing comrades or something of that nature.

Han let Rōshi settle his beef. He, meanwhile, would go check on the Uchiha and the orange blob he had with him. The two Akatsuki members didn't seem like babysitters of any kind; Kokuō had a bad feeling about the boy, but what was even odder was that the Uchiha's chakra was so _calm._ Being a Biju, Kokuō's constant intake of nature chakra had a striking side-effect: the Biju could communicate to Han the _nature of someone's chakra. _Itachi's was calm, like Han and Kokuō's.

A pacifist by nature, but a soldier by profession and a Jinchūriki by circumstance, Han was used to the hopelessness in his current life. He'd contemplated leaving Iwa for years. He had left for a while, but it felt more like running away than standing for his beliefs. Back he crawled like a good little soldier. Somehow, it felt like he and Itachi may be in the same boat.

Han turned and ran towards the faint ball of chakra Kokuō sensed. All he wanted was a conversation and information. Was that too much to ask for?

* * *

Bundled in his black robe, Itachi looked like a crow with its feathers plumped out. He knelt on a tree branch just above the dirty water in front of him, placid. Kisame had completely ruined the landscape; mud from the loose soil would coat this area for a long time, once the water dispersed. Every now and then the filth below would lap against the trunk of the tree softly. Only a handful of trees in sight were tall enough to rival the one Itachi occupied. Most had been overtaken by the flood.

Itachi looked to the ball of orange resting its back against the tree trunk. He'd been asleep for a long time, dormant, like the Biju within him. It was unnerving to think that the strongest known power in the Shinobi World was locked in a child with the fashion sense of a traffic cone. No wonder Jiraiya had taken him under his personal protection.

_'Jiraiya... you must be desperate to stop the Akatsuki if you're seeking me out for information,' _Itachi thought. He hadn't reported in years. Truth be told, there wasn't much to report on. The group had largely been making financial gains: buying property, doing missions for Iwagakure, hunting bounties, tracking Jinchūriki and very rarely engaging. Though their proximity to Iwagakure's operations as of late had given them insight into their containers, Zetsu had done most of the intelligence work. This was the fatal flaw in Akatsuki's model: no one checked Zetsu's sources. Itachi had beaten him to Iwa's Intelligence Operations, then planted some misleading files among the mix. This way, the Jinchūriki would stand a chance against the Akatsuki. The harder it is for Akatsuki to capture Biju, the safer the Shinobi World, and Konoha, would be, Itachi thought.

Itachi let his eyes drift to the watermark on the tree: the water depth was decreasing slowly. Kisame had about ten minutes of a lake left, and if he didn't finish the Jinchūriki by then, Itachi would have to intervene. Kisame needed to either kill them quickly or get killed; Itachi had no desire to fight the Jinchūriki tandem with Naruto here and other Konoha Shinobi on his tail. No doubt Jiraiya was already tracking him.

Jumping down to the water and landing softly, he watched as light ripples spread across the surface of the water. Incredible how such small actions disrupted the natural order of the world. Stepping in water or killing your parents, for example. Itachi pushed the thought from his mind; it was a bit dark even for him. Just as quick as he pushed it away, it came back. Sasuke's face flashed alongside his dead father's. The mere sight of him had brought back many repressed memories, feelings, _anxieties._

Chiefly, anxieties about Sasuke's true potential as a redeemer versus an avenger. Sasuke was strong for a Genin, weak for an Uchiha. He needed to grow up quickly; the disease had been progressing rapidly without the medicines Kabuto provided. Itachi grimaced. He pulled the last half-pill out his coat pocket and swallowed it dry, the bitterness on his tongue appreciated more than it should have been.

"Taking pills?" a voice called out from behind. "Are you sick, Uchiha Itachi of Konohagakure?" Itachi listened to the soft clinks of plate armor, unbothered by the new presence.

"Unfortunately so, Han. I'm plagued with something I've been infected with since I was four years old. Death and fighting feel suffocating, even today, after the war. I see the same faces every night, and they slowly eat away at my insides while I sleep. If I recall correctly, you were in the same conflict."

Itachi heard a pause in the clinks. "Do you blame those who forced you into the war, as I do? Do you blame those who forced you to make decisions you can never take back?' Han asked.

They were fair questions. "That must be where we differ. Everything I have ever done, I have done on my own power and by my own choice. I chose to murder those closest to me to attain power, and in doing so, have also chosen to die an early death," Itachi cryptically answered.

Another shift and another clinking of armor. "I don't believe you, young one. My Biju tells me you're a peaceful spirit like I am. Yet, I have a feeling you don't intend for me to be the one to give you that early death, do you?

Another fair question. Itachi turned to him, the red giant only a few feet in front of him. He stood as non-threatening as his massive frame would allow, between Itachi and his orange captive in the tree above.

"No," Itachi finally answered, "that right is reserved for my brother." Itachi closed the distance between them and threw the first punch. Han blocked, but Itachi's speed was too great. The next few kicks got through, banging off Han's armor. Itachi used Han's own body as a springboard to leap into the air above him and fall with a spinning ax kick. Han blocked with his forearm, but his glove and lower forearm armor snapped off, exposing his pink, raw skin.

"I don't want to fight, Uchiha!" Han shoved Itachi off his arm, pushing him into the air several feet. Itachi flipped through hand seals while he careened through the air.

"Katon: Great Fireball Jutsu!" A fiery mass took shape and engulfed Han's figure, steam exploding from the collision. Itachi landed and his Sharingan spun as it analyzed the damage. He couldn't see Han through the chakra-infused steam, but it didn't matter. No base Jōnin ninja would dare get caught in such a simple exchange, let alone a Jinchūriki renowned for his fire and water technique mastery.

"Suiton: Great Waterfall Technique!" Itachi's eyes widened as a massive cylindrical vortex of high-pressure water barreled towards him through the steam. He deftly sidestepped it but had to jump away as the vortex split in half and redirected towards him at the last moment, the two vortexes now chasing him mercilessly through the air.

_'This level of skill with the Great Waterfall Technique, making one vortex into two and having them be strong enough to become airborne, is very impressive. I don't know if it is his purpose, but he is pushing me away from Naruto. I must reposition,' _Itachi thought. He landed from his jump and ducked under the closing water vortexes, rushing back to Han. The vortexes behind him collided and formed into one again, tailing the Uchiha. Itachi saw Han clearly across the open water; his sleeveless gi had been completely burned away leaving only his red armor, but he was still holding the jutsu activation stance, palms together in front of his chest. Itachi grabbed a few shuriken from his coat and threw them, hoping to disrupt the jutsu. Han made no move to dodge.

The shuriken stuck in Han's armor _chink, chink, chink chink._

_'Direct hit.' _Itachi then pulled the ninja wire attached to the shuriken, activating his hidden fire seal and setting the lines ablaze. Han stopped the jutsu and ripped the shuriken out with his bare hands, the flame just missing his fingertips as he tossed them into the water.

Itachi flipped right and threw more shuriken. This time, Han rotated the opposite direction Itachi went in an effort to dodge. Itachi repositioned back to the tree branch with Naruto to his back and Han on the water below. His Sharingan narrowed as Han's gnarled forearm drew attention. The whole thing was bloated red with scar tissue piled on top. The veins in his colossal forearm seemed to pulse against his ruined skin.

He spoke slowly. "Uchiha Itachi... you're one of the few men alive to see me without my armor. What you see is the product of a ninja village driven by fear, pain, and _pride. _You say you have done everything by choice; I cannot fathom having a choice. I remember killing ninja with your headband _as a child, _far from my home. You experienced a loss of innocence in the Third Great Shinobi War. I had none to begin with.

I was three when the Gobi was sealed within my body and I started training. I was tortured, starved and had my chakra stolen, all so the Tailed Beast inside me would run its chakra through me to nourish me. During the Second Great Shinobi War, I was deployed; I was six. You say you know the horrors of war... I've killed fathers, I've killed their children, I've erased family names from history. No one _wants_ to do these things. I didn't want to do those things, just like you didn't want to kill your family. It was something you _had _to do, and that is something I understand."

Itachi stiffened but relaxed his shoulders slowly. Han was right; they were both scarred, disfigured by their villages and their wishes. Both followed orders and bared the brunt of the pain associated with tough choices. Even Kisame, for all his bravado, had killed his former boss in Kirigakure because he was a traitor to the village.

"I see," Itachi said. His chest ached. "We are more alike than I first realized. However, this doesn't change what will happen here today. Kisame and I will attempt to capture you and extract your Jinchūriki, and if we succeed, you will die." He truly hoped it wouldn't come to that, but his cover in Akatsuki was everything; without it, Konoha was blind. He would kill Han to keep Konoha and those he loved safe.

"I understand your stance, Uchiha Itachi. I don't want to fight you, but I will not let myself be taken, and have the power stored within me hurt others!" Itachi eyed Han's feet warily; taijutsu was Han's specialty, according to Iwagakure's files.

The steam from Han wafted up past the tree branch Itachi was perched on, but neither made a move to attack. _'Taijutsu is my most ineffective method of attack against him, though I am faster. I could take him down with Amaterasu or Tsukuyomi, though I don't know how effective Tsukuyomi would be with the Gobi sealed inside him. If he transforms, I suppose my Susano'o will have to suffice. I hope Kisame finishes rather soon; not only is he a better match for Han, but Naruto's life depends on the outcome of these fights!'_

Han charged, steam billowing behind him. He looked like a freight train as his 7-and-a-half-foot body reached its full speed. All that was left was to calculate his leap up to Itachi's position and then counter-

Han ran right through the expected jump zone. _'He's going to destroy the base of the tree!' _Itachi realized. He scooped Naruto up and leaped away just as Han made contact.

With a loud bang and several wood chips flying free, the tree began to wobble, eventually falling in Itachi's general direction. Itachi sidestepped the massive branches as the trunk slammed into the water. Debris fluttered through the air, falling harmlessly into the water.

Itachi placed Naruto on the floating trunk. Han had to be close. Most of his jutsu repertoire was close range, so creating distance wouldn't make sense for the Gobi Jinchūriki.

A loud roar caused Itachi to spin around; Han was suddenly throwing punches that whizzed within mere inches of Itachi's face. If not for his superior speed, Itachi would be dead. One of Han's punches missed and struck the tree trunk, blowing it to smithereens. Not feeling like being turned into pulp, Itachi backed off, but Han followed suit. Itachi weaved around several more punches before catching the armored titan off guard with a high kick. Itachi's leg smacked into his armored face, but before Itachi could retract his leg, Han grabbed it and cocked his right fist back. Itachi's Sharingan rolled as it analyzed the amount of chakra Han was juicing the punch with; if Itachi got hit, he'd die.

_'I have no choice!' _Itachi locked eyes with Han. That was all he needed.

"Tsukuyomi!"

* * *

Itachi adjusted to the darkness rather quickly. It was his domain, after all. Across from him stood Han. He appeared confused, disoriented with the darkness.

"Hello, Han. Please, take a seat." A metal chair sprouted forth under Han and then laid flat, restraining the Jinchūriki like he was an insane asylum prisoner. He struggled mightily with the restraints.

"Welcome to my Tsukuyomi, the ultimate genjutsu. Here, time moves according to my will. I may keep you here seventy-two hours if I deem it necessary, though, to the outside world, it will be but a moment. I can do anything I please to you: torture, talk, bend the world to do my bidding," Itachi monologued as he made a piece of the metal cover Han's mouth to stop his cries. Itachi hated it when people interrupted him.

He strode up next to Han's writhing form. "You see, Han, this is _my domain_, and I am the one who makes the choices here."

"**Is that so?**"A deep voice rumbled, shaking Itachi's vision. He gasped as his black sky became a massive blue eye. A thick red line underlined the eye. As the eyeball drew back, the enormous figure revealed itself to be the face of the Gobi itself, and it did not look pleased.

"**I believe you are mistaken, boy. This is **_**my domain, **_**and **_**I **_**am the one who makes the choices here. My name is Kokuō, and I am dismayed at seeing such a soft soul as yours using your Kami-given strength for wickedness. You possess a soft heart; do not let it harden because of the actions of mortals,**" the giant chakra construct preached. "**Now, you do not belong here. Leave this place**."

Itachi watched as the Gobi sucked in a mouthful of air and blew him, quite literally, out of his own Tsukuyomi.

* * *

As he flashed back into the real world, Itachi immediately used Han's exposed chest as a springboard for his free foot, wrenching his leg free of the Jinchūriki's grip and creating distance between them. Han was still stunned from the Tsukuyomi and didn't realize Itachi had escaped his grasp until it was too late.

As the two ninjas stared each other down, they heard a roar. Kisame came like a rock skipping on water, bouncing and then crashing into the fallen tree between Han and Itachi.

Itachi turned his head in time to see a lava-covered Rōshi following. He landed next to Han as Itachi heard Kisame fighting to pull himself from the tree. With a loud crack and an explosion of wood, Kisame emerged, looking none too pleased and sporting several long gashes down his frame. He was missing his Akatsuki robe.

"I see he made you pull your weapon," Han said. Itachi eyed the piece in Rōshi's hand closely. It was a large, curved kunai with a double-sided blade. Dangerous in the hands of a proficient wielder, the cuts on Kisame a testament to the fact.

Rōshi spit a bit of blood that dispersed as soon as it hit the water. His skin glowed bright orange and yellow. "I see the Uchiha kid is making _you_ look like the old one. Tell me, is he as good as they say he is?" Rōshi questioned.

Itachi slid his eyes back over to Han and watched the colossus across from him carefully. Han looked like a boxer with gigantic hands, ready to inflict massive damage. His pressurized steam leaked from his furnace and covered the area in a chakra infused cloud. Itachi watched as the concentration of chakra in the furnace lessened, then increased, then lessened again. It was a sort of gauge, it seemed. _'I wonder what happens when it exceeds the limit? Surely nothing good,' _Itachi surmised.

His Mangekyō Sharingan spun as he analyzed every chakra molecule surrounding the four shinobi while simultaneously checking Han's posture, his slight muscle tenses, his ever-shifting weight. What foot he launched from decided the attack pattern, decided which hand he would throw first. Itachi had already figured him out.

"The boy is... _dangerous._ It's what he's hiding that we need to be wary of," Han said.

Itachi didn't disagree with that statement. Rōshi twirled his knife around for a moment, ready for combat. Han tucked his chin as a boxer would do. Kisame pulled Samehada up and let the sentient sword rest on his shoulder. Itachi did nothing.

A single leaf hit the water. Its ripples spread far past the four Shinobi present.

* * *

A/N: I am so sorry for the long wait and the relatively short chapter! Life comes at you fast, you know?


	4. Seals, Toads, Lava: The Great Escape!

_Earlier that day..._

_ Jiraiya's painting canvas shuddered for a moment, its stark white skin being pulled tight by the muscle underneath._

_ "What are you doing to me?"_

_ "You're not supposed to be awake yet," Jiraiya said, never taking his eye off the brushstrokes he weaved around Sasuke's exposed chest. He took a moment to dip the brush in a jar of ink and then picked up right where he left off. _

_ "Well I am," Sasuke lifted his head off the ground and glared at the white-haired Sannin._

_ "Look, kid, just don't move, and I'll tell the scary blonde lady not to hit you again. Deal?"_

_ Sasuke laid his head back down flat. "... She hits harder than Itachi."_

_ Jiraiya chuckled. "That was just the tip of the iceberg. Try peeping on her in the hot springs and see what happens! I do not recommend it."_

_Sasuke didn't respond._

_Later that day..._

* * *

Two massive toads hopped down the river, the air around them buffeting as they extended their spring-like legs. They slammed onto the river's surface with a splash but sprang up again as soon as their legs coiled back underneath them. They couldn't afford to waste any time.

"Tsunade, Shizune! You two comfortable?" Jiraiya called behind him. The ladies looked a bit sick; Their toad was relatively younger than Jiraiya's, and as such, didn't realize that humans weren't as adapted to high-speed aerial maneuvers as he was. Meanwhile, Sasuke sat calmly next to Jiraiya, his hand on his alabaster neck.

"We're fine, Jiraiya! But as soon as I'm off this frog, I'm going to kill you!" Tsunade shouted.

Jiraiya rubbed his head; It wasn't the first time he'd heard that one. He thought about replying but antagonizing her further would only make it worse later. Might as well enjoy the trip-

Four shadows shot out the wood line, standing in a horizontal line across the river, seemingly blocking the toad's path. The toads paused, unsure of what to do. Both toads and the four dark-clad shinobi across from them floated down the river leisurely, the current like a flat escalator. With the sun at their backs, they had strategically placed themselves where Jiraiya and the others could make out no distinguishing marks or even colors, they were just silhouettes, dark cut-outs of people.

"Nice weather we are having today," one called.

"The leaf is best when the elements are at rest," Jiraiya replied. He felt Sasuke's tense stance slacken. '_Did he figure out the code key already? Sharp kid. Uchiha always were quick studies,' _Jiraiya thought. The man on the far left shifted, and the four shinobi walked towards Jiraiya and his caravan.

The ANBU agents revealed themselves as they got closer, brushing their cloaks behind their bodies and letting their hoods fall free.

The man with the Rabbit mask spoke first: "Apologies, Jiraiya-sama. The protocol has been stricter as of late." The ANBU turned his head towards Tsunade. "I take it you've completed your primary objective?"

Jiraiya rubbed the back of his head. "Not exactly."

Rabbit stared at him. It was unsettling to stare into a blank porcelain mask that you just _knew _was hiding anger.

He heard the ANBU let out a breath, then his colleagues fanned out around the group, one of them at each side of Tsunade's toad. Rabbit spoke again, this time more authorial. "Jiraiya-sama, we are here to assist in the recovery of one Uzumaki Naruto at the request of Maito Gai. It is our understanding that we are going to run into wanted nuke-nin, and as such, two of us would like the privilege to escort Lady Tsunade and Uchiha Sasuke back to Konoha to ensure their safety."

"Why in the world would you do that? I've taken care of myself for years. Besides, if the Uchiha and Hoshigaki can take you down, Jiraiya, you're going to need me," Tsunade smirked.

"Because the Hokage must be protected at all times. Needlessly endangering yourself poses a risk to the entire village," Rabbit stated.

"I'm sorry, the _Hokage?_" Tsunade's face blushed at the sudden realization that she'd been left out of a very important loop. The gaze she leveled on Jiraiya could flatten a mountain. Meanwhile, even though ANBU masks were solid porcelain, Rabbit had found a way to give Jiraiya a nasty look.

"I hadn't gotten around to asking her yet!" Jiraiya squeaked.

"Jiraiya!" She yelled. Her fists were balled up at her sides, _begging _to throttle him.

"You should take it." All eyes cut to Sasuke leaning against the back of the toad, rubbing his sealed Curse Mark like a bug had just bitten him. He continued:

"You're a Senju. Who else is better or more fit to hold the hat? Your grandfather and granduncle both held it, it's literally _in your blood. _And you might be a raging alcoholic with a gambling problem, but you're strong," Sasuke finished, his hand sliding down from his neck to his sore chest.

Tsunade hadn't heard Sasuke speak that many words since his outburst earlier in the day. As surprised as she was to receive the support of an Uchiha, she had to remind herself that Sasuke had never met her Granduncle, Tobirama... he had tended to rub Uchiha the wrong way.

Tsunade huffed, uncomfortable with the spotlight. "I... I don't know yet. It's a big decision. I'm not going to accept so suddenly, but I'm not going to rule it out, either," she explained.

Jiraiya jumped for joy, fist-pumping both arms until Tsunade's voice grounded him:

_"Don't think I'll let you off the hook for this, you pervert! You owe me! You couldn't even drop me a hint?!"_

Jiraiya's blood turned cold; having Tsunade hang a favor over your head was torture for both the wallet and the body.

"Tsunade-sama, what about your promise to Maito Gai regarding his student?" Rabbit asked.

"I fully intend to help Gai and his protégé, as well as Hatake Kakashi, regardless of if I take the hat," she responded. "My ancestors built Konoha. To not help in such a time would make me unworthy of the Senju name." Her green necklace shimmered in the sunlight.

Rabbit remained silent for a moment, then nodded his head to the ANBU not standing by Tsunade, and the Lizard-masked ninja quickly approached Sasuke.

"One more thing before we depart," Rabbit said.

Before Sasuke could put a guard up, Lizard had him face down in the river and was locking his wrists behind his back with chakra resistant cuffs.

"Failure to follow orders and leaving the confines of the village without prior approval is insubordination at best, desertion at worst. Due to the context surrounding your actions, the consequences will be assessed at a later date with the acting Shinobi Trust presiding over your proceedings," The ANBU stated, practically waterboarding Sasuke.

"Now guys, is that really necessary?" Jiraiya said, hands on his hips. "Yes, he did a stupid thing, but he's here to help! He's Naruto's teammate and he wants to help find him! Right, Sasuke?"

Rabbit spoke first. "I think the Jounin present in the room when he decided to leave would argue his reason for leaving more involved his brother, Uchiha Itachi, than his comrade Uzumaki Naruto."

"Well, yeah," Jiraiya conceded, hand behind his head again, "but _now _he's all about getting Naruto back. No brother funny business! Right, Sasuke?"

Lizard dragged Sasuke to his feet. Sasuke, meanwhile, was trying his hardest not to kick Lizard in the nuts, being that the man was standing right behind him. His hair was soaking wet and hanging in his face.

The mess of navy hair nodded slightly. Lizard looked to Rabbit. Rabbit sighed again. "Jiraiya-sama, you are the commanding officer on this mission. If you think the Uchiha is worth his weight, then so be it. But if he runs, my unit has full authority to _neutralize _him."

Lizard released Sasuke from the cuffs. With a huff, Sasuke yanked his hands away from the ANBU and stalked back over to the toad he was previously on, making eye contact with no one but his reflection in the water.

"Well!" Jiraiya clapped his hands and stirred the Toad Summons into moving. "Now that that's behind us, let's get this show on the road! ANBU, lead the way."

"Hai!" Their voices blended into one before shooting off into the wooded riverbanks, following a trail that no one else could see, like bloodhounds on the hunt for a fox.

How fitting that was, Jiraiya thought.

* * *

He'd heard her through the stone door, the clacking of heels against the marble floor that vibrated up the marble walls and soaked through the marble doors. The damn woman was _so loud!_ You'd think in a building made of pure stone that different rooms would trap whatever conversation or noise was happening inside of them. And for every person in Iwagakure, that was what happened.

Except for _her._

"Come in," he called.

His secretary, a relative of the Daimyo whose name he never bothered to learn, strolled in. Her wedges clicked against the floor incessantly. Ōnoki visibly cringed until the noise stopped. She smirked and blew a bubble with the gum in her mouth. She knew he hated her, and that infuriated him even more.

"What!" He barked. She'd managed to get under his skin by _existing_. Most people did.

She waited until the bubble popped, drew it back into her mouth slowly, then began to munch on it again.

"A scroll came in a moment ago; it was addressed to you, _Tsuchikage-dono_," she chewed out. She set a scroll down on his desk. It was sopping wet, getting all the other papers on his desk wet, too. She promptly turned on her heel and exited the room before he exploded in frustration.

He yanked the scroll off the desk and grumbled. The Daimyo's niece or not, he _had _to replace this woman. She was making his blood pressure skyrocket. He took the scroll and spun around to his balcony, where the sun beamed down gloriously and baked Iwa like it was inside a brick oven. He spread the scroll out, being careful not to damage it.

With hard eyes, he noticed the style in which the kanji were written. It was no mistake; the Akatsuki had finally made contact with his two Jinchūriki.

"Something the matter, _Tsuchikage-dono?" _A voice behind him drawled. Ōnoki's hair bristled, but he dared not turn around and look into that singular red eye he knew was lurking behind him.

"No, Tobi. Everything is fine. Hoshigaki just sent word. Apparently, he didn't know they were traveling together."

"That's odd, Zetsu told us they weren't. The files he _found in your Intelligence Center _said they were taking different routes," Tobi said plainly.

Ōnoki wanted to be mad that Tobi didn't trust him enough to take him at his word, but he was more concerned with why his own files were wrong. He frowned deeply, the wrinkles on his face tripling in number.

Tobi hummed lightly. "You know, Ōnoki, Sarutobi died. I suppose that means you're the last of the Old Kage," the masked shinobi mused.

Ōnoki heard Tobi step around his office. It was the first time he'd heard him make a noise of any kind, except for his annoying voice. Why was he making small talk right now? "I heard," the old Kage said. His teeth clenched together like a vice grip, but he kept his gaze toward the northern mountain range. He knew what that evil eye of his could do.

"I take it the money we're compensating you with is satisfactory?" Tobi drawled. "I'd use it to invest in a better Intel Staff if I were you."

Ōnoki bristled at the insult. "Of course the money's good, otherwise I would have never agreed to this." Ōnoki felt Tobi stop in front of a personal shelf on the wall, close to his desk. It was filled with milestones: Mū's funeral, Kurotsuchi's birth, and a picture of the day Ōnoki made Jōnin. His Kage one had been taken off for dusting.

"You're helping your village, Fence-sitter. And inadvertently, you're helping the world. Mū would be proud," Tobi said. Instead of filling the silence, his words only made it feel emptier. Finally, Ōnoki snapped.

"You wouldn't know how Mū would feel!" Ōnoki wheeled around, his face bright red. Tobi was already gone, though, no trace of his exit anywhere in the room. With a huff as loud as his nose was big, Ōnoki the Great Fence Sitter sat at his desk, contemplating what he'd just done. _Would _Mū understand his actions? Would Kurotsuchi? Grumbling, he put his head down on his desk for a moment. He was just glad he didn't have to explain this mess to his younger self.

* * *

It happened so fast. Kisame had been batting Rōshi around like a toy when, out of nowhere, Rōshi's arm_ transformed into the Yonbi's fist _and put Kisame_ through _the seafloor. It was suddenly two-on-one, a battle Itachi would never dream of winning in his current condition.

Itachi ducked under a steaming kick and rolled away from a ball of lava that created even more steam. Han funneled the steam into a spear and launched it at the Uchiha. Itachi leaned back and let it pass over him. Before he could right himself, Rōshi blocked the sun out from above and came crashing down with his enlarged fist, lava armor still active.

Itachi could do nothing but dodge again, bending his body away from the impact zone. The vicinity of his ribcage to the lava armor was too close; Itachi felt his ribs flash-frying from the heat and backflipped away. Breathing for a moment, Itachi saw Kisame surface and trap Han in a water prison. It only lasted for a moment, though, as the water exploded in Kisame's face, the heat from Han's steam over-pressuring the water prison. Kisame bursted into water when the steam hit him. Han looked around for the real Kisame, who surfaced a moment later with a downward sword swing. They battled, brawn against brawn, a mere fifty feet from Naruto's unconscious body.

Rōshi's bright yellow, orangish armor caught Itachi's gaze. "I thought I had you back there, boy. You move well," Rōshi complimented.

Itachi flexed his Mangekyō Sharingan, noting the strongpoints in Rōshi's lava armor. This time, Itachi moved first. He slung three kunai at the Jinchūriki, who batted them away with his own weapon. Before they hit the ground, Itachi pulled them back with his hidden ninja wire, swinging them above his head like a flail.

Rōshi laughed. This boy was playing with fire! Itachi whipped the kunai forward and arched a shuriken. Rōshi readied to knock them out the air and sever the wire, but at the last moment, Itachi flexed his ring finger and all three kunai changed their directions slightly. Rōshi managed to squeeze in between the throwing knives, the gap between them just wide enough for him to fit- _clank!_

The shuriken knocked a kunai back into Rōshi's back, the weakest point of his armor. He twisted and cried in pain as the knife found footing in the back of his shoulder before he ripped it out. A deep, diamond-like puncture remained, the lava armor refusing to cover the fresh wound.

Itachi capitalized, tugging the knife towards him, bringing Rōshi with it. Itachi burst into crows as Rōshi passed through him, completely dazed by the maneuver. He reformed a moment later; he and Rōshi had traded places.

"What was the point of that, lad?" Rōshi asked. "I'm still here, yeah! Come on, you know you can't beat me one on one. I'm too hot to handle!"

Itachi simply raised his hand in the release seal. Rōshi's shoulder wound exploded in fire, the tag he'd set while changing places detonating. It knocked Rōshi to his knees, and he groaned as his armor tried to reform over his burnt back.

"You little shit," Rōshi panted. "You've really up and done it now."

_'That armor is very chakra consuming, even for a Jinchūriki. I knew that just punching a hole in it would lead to his overusing it. It seems I was right,' _Itachi thought. Suddenly, Rōshi's body began to shake. His limbs increased in size and his chest ballooned.

_ 'He's letting his tailed beast take over!' _Itachi summoned his Mangekyō Sharingan, feeling his own chakra levels wane dangerously close to his limit. He had no choice.

"Amaterasu!" The back flames instantly sprouted all over Rōshi's body. Their intensity destroyed Rōshi's lava armor easily. Rōshi dropped the armor as soon as he could, and the lava melted off his now-exposed skin. He avoided the black flames by literal hairs, but his transformation had been stopped. He wheezed as his body contorted into its natural state once again, and he dropped to his hands and knees, the aborted transformation ripping his physical cells apart.

Itachi dropped to one knee himself, the cost of using Amaterasu a steep price to pay. His vision had completely deteriorated in his right eye and blood flowed from it stronger than any river current. Nearby, he felt Kisame take a large portion of Han's Biju chakra away. He turned and saw the blue gilled monster in a grudge match with the massive Jinchūriki. Kisame was beating his ribcage with Samehada like it was a hammer, and Han, to his credit, simply took it and gave it back tenfold, his right arm coming over the top of Kisame's guard and clobbering him senseless. The two giants broke apart for a moment, panting like old dogs.

Itachi's lone Sharingan rolled wildly across the battlefield. So much Biju chakra in one area was straining his already-depleted eye cells. The calculations he'd made in the past five minutes shattered when he heard a Jutsu name he never expected to hear again.

Everyone froze and Kisame spun around, confronted by three orange kids. "Rasengan!" A loud boom followed, the Jutsu backfiring in the hands of its user.

Uzumaki Naruto was awake!

* * *

The Kyuubi no Kitsune, the most powerful being in existence, watched as his jailor's unconscious body was angled just so that he could see the mortals scrapping over... nothing? Feh, over bodies of natural chakra that would simply reform if they pushed the Jinchūriki too far.

He could feel his brother Son Goku's anger, his sister Kokuō's uncertainty. The two across from them, however, were calm, collected, organized. If Son Goku and Kokuō couldn't beat a Biju wannabe and a damned baby redeye then they didn't deserve to roam free.

He watched as the redeye burned Son Goku's container with black fire, bringing him down to his knees in agony. The Jinchūriki recovered by letting the lava armor fall off his body, taking the black flames with it. The other two seemed to be in a stalemate. It was all _pathetic_.

Kurama dreamt of the day he himself would roam free, doing whatever the hell he wanted to do. He wanted to destroy things, cause chaos. It'd been too long since he'd done that. Of course, when he did it without being hypnotized. Fucking redeyes. He peeked in on the fight again as the redeye stayed on a knee in apparent pain, though no attack had struck him.

And to think that he, King of the Biju, was beaten by such weaklings!

Kurama's view of the outside world panned as Naruto woke. He couldn't hear in the seal, thank God, since he'd probably try and mute that stupid jailer of his anyway, but the boy seemed to draw attention to himself. He summoned a few clones and stood for a long moment, awkwardly trying to recreate the Fourth Yondaime's Rasengan. The other four Shinobi simply watched, either confused or alarmed at his sudden entering of the fray.

The blue orb fluctuated wildly and then destabilized, blowing Naruto off his feet and into the murky water. Kurama watched as the boy started to swim, his single remaining clone up top distracting the blue mortal. It seemed to be working as the real Naruto remained underneath the water and formed a half-ass Rasengan on his own, the heaviness of the water molecules actually helping his extreme chakra input stabilize.

Faster it spun until he thought it was adequate. He lunged for the surface, for where his clone's memory told him the shark was. As Naruto broke the surface tension, Kurama was surprised; Naruto might actually hit him with the wildly unpredictable chakra ball.

And then Naruto was immediately shredded by the ninja's massive sword.

It had been perfectly executed; the sword swung into the path of the pseudo Rasengan, absorbing it before it had a single hope, then crashed straight though the kid's arm, face, and chest, each body part giving pieces of themselves to the scaly sword. The screen through which he viewed the world went red.

The Kyuubi popped up, giving Naruto's situation his immediate attention. If he didn't act soon, both he and the boy would be dead. And there was no way in Hell he was going to meet that asshole Shinigami again. He'd been such a prick all those years ago in Konoha.

** "I, the Kyuubi no Kitsune, the Destroyer of Nations, Devastator of Worlds, and King of the Biju, refuse to die to a pitiful welp! You cannot kill me! I am the Shinigami of you mortals; I am your **_**death!**_**"** With that proclamation, the Kyuubi launched its body forward, connecting with the cage that held it in check.

As a last-ditch effort, he shot his tails through the bars, reaching for Naruto's conscience. He could feel it, just on the edge- _Wham!_ The iron bars swelled together, creating an almost impenetrable wall. They locked together, cutting off three of the Kyuubi's tails. His roar of agony shook the cage. He snarled and repeatedly slammed into the wall. He felt weaker now. Three tails of his were cut off, loose in Naruto's mind. It was like a limb (or three) had been hacked away. The pain was substantial, but he fought through it.

He could feel the chakra enter Naruto's system, and suddenly, the Kyuubi was thrust into the real world through Naruto's eyes. He smelled the _anxiety _in his foes, felt Naruto's blood on his face, heard the vicious laughter of his opponent. He decided that the one in the shark onesie would be his first victim.

** "No one kills the Kyuubi no Kitsune!"** Kurama sent a chakra claw up faster than Kisame could dodge; Samehada _screamed_ as the burning, evil chakra seeped into its scales. It absorbed the fiery energy, but the malevolent heat that radiated from it scalded the sword. Kurama disengaged and pulled the claw back slightly, then had it shoot down into the water and grab the earth underneath. He used the chakra claw arm as a catapult, slinging Naruto's body towards Kisame at high speed.

To his credit, Kisame simply stood with Samehada in a guard position. As Kurama closed, a chakra claw stabbed forth, converting from a waving tail to a sharp spike, ready to make fish kabobs.

Samehada bore the brunt of the chakra construct, while Kisame managed to dip to his left and avoided physical contact with Kurama's chakra-cloaked vassal.

As Naruto's body passed by, Kisame reached out and grabbed him by the throat. It was an incredible lesson in strength and pain tolerance; Kisame had basically blocked a Biju spear with one hand and his other was currently forearm deep in a _roiling hot _bubble of nature chakra.

Yet, he made no grimaces, no snarky jokes, no motion betraying pain. He simply tossed the boy a few feet in the air and brought his massive sword around to horizontally _clobber _Naruto's body. Just like before, Samehada ate through whatever chakra was around the boy's body, then proceeded to make mincemeat of Naruto's unguarded ribcage without issue.

It was almost as if Kisame had hit Naruto so perfectly fast that he got every bit of flesh he could get down the length of the blade with so much power that Naruto's body simply didn't even move as it fell back down, splashing into the water and dying it a deep red.

The chakra cloak immediately failed, Kurama's remaining free chakra subverting from offensive to defensive without his permission. It seemed he wasn't quite free enough. Just as the fox felt his connection to the outside world was failing, he was _yanked _back into his cage by the seal, the bars of the cage twisting and deforming. Larger gaps formed in some places; in others, the bars touched. To Kurama's shock, one bar from each end of the cage broke loose and fell across his back, forcing him into the sewage water below.

As he tried to keep his snout out the liquid refuse, he noticed a _pull _on his very being. He craned his neck down just enough so that he could see it: the seal was _taking his chakra from him!_ The red nature energy flowed from his body and seemed to coil around the very bars that restrained him. It coiled around the bars until it reached the seal itself, which ate the chakra, and then, as Kurama could see, dispersed it through Naruto's system at a very advanced rate.

Nothing like this had ever happened before! The seal had never been so aggressive in its utilization of his chakra. It was meant to suppress him, hold him down, but now it seemed that the functions were flipped. He tried desperately to move, but the bars became heavier and heavier as they sucked more chakra out of his already-dwindling body.

Suddenly, they stopped. The bars flew back into their place, and the twisted metal beams became straight again. Kurama raised his head slowly; the hairs on his back stood at attention like columns of red soldiers. Nothing looked out of place- the bars were straight, the sewage water still stunk, he was still imprisoned. And that was what confused him the most.

Confusion gave way to rage. He snarled and roared, the bars across from him vibrating aggressively. **"Yondaime! You coward! I hope the Shinigami makes you and your pathetic wife slaughter each other till the end of time! Bah! You wretched fool! I won't stay here forever!" **

His words reverberated across the empty domain, the light sound of more sewage water cascading in from somewhere far away. It _almost _sounded like laughter.

* * *

Everything was still.

Like the calm before the storm, everything was still.

Itachi felt the wind on his face dry the blood from his leaking eye. The dried blood flaked slightly as Itachi's skin pulsed, adrenaline keeping him alive. Across from him, on all fours, was an incapacitated Rōshi who hacked blood into the water and continued to have trouble breathing. It looked like his heart itself had been damaged in the attempted transformation.

Itachi rose, struggling to rise like a leaden cloud. He locked his knees under him for support; his body didn't have much left in the tank, unfortunately. He made sharp eye contact with Han, watching him closely. He was the only real threat remaining, but he looked fresh despite Kisame's beatings.

"Kisame," Itachi called. "We need to retreat. My eyes have reached their limit. Grab the-"

A bubbling sound near Kisame caught everyone's attention. Where Naruto's bleeding body had been, was replaced by a ball of red chakra. It made the water around it steam and hiss. Kisame wisely leaped over to Itachi, and the two of them backed off. Han did the same.

The bubbling grew in intensity and Itachi's limited vision noticed the fission of yokai molecules in the air. _'Naruto's Kyuubi chakra is acting like a bomb... It's going to explode!'_

"Kisame," Itachi said, very calmly, "move." Letting the Uchiha drape an arm over his back, Kisame channeled chakra to his legs and forced his muscles to activate, sending the Akatsuki pair into the air not a moment too soon.

Itachi watched as the inner folds of the red chakra ball collapsed in, like a star going supernova. The explosion was massive and engulfed Rōshi's limp body. Han didn't seem to make it far enough away, either. From their position in the air, Itachi noted that the dome of fire was going to reach them. Suddenly, Kisame pulled them both down towards what little water remained.

"Suiton: Water Wall Jutsu!" The water rose just in time to cover the explosive shockwave of fire, or at least, that's what Itachi thought happened. His eyes were finally starting to betray him; He could barely make out the blurry shapes of Kisame and Samehada in black and white, not a speck of color present. Even the figures were fading.

After a solid minute, the water wall fell, and Itachi latched onto Kisame for support. Kisame carried Itachi's small frame, not letting his feet drag in the water.

He felt Kisame shift like he shifted the day before. "Itachi... the kid is gone. You think he died, or the Gobi nabbed him for some reason?"

"No...," Itachi answered again. He only saw black. "The Gobi... has him. Part... of the plan," Itachi wheezed. Blood came from the back of his throat and into his mouth, filling his tongue with the taste of copper. He spat most out, but some caught his lips and dribbled down his chin. His body was shutting down. If only he had taken a whole pill instead of a half...

Kisame walked over to Rōshi's body. "The Gobi seems to have retreated but left the Yonbi's body. And he's breathing! I guess we got lucky, eh Itachi?" He let Samehada eat Rōshi; Samehada would make sure he recovered only enough to survive.

Lucky was not the word that came to mind for Itachi, but Kisame didn't let him dwell. He started talking again about transportation and routes back to the hideouts...

Itachi retained none of these things as his body quit fighting unconsciousness. A deeper black enveloped his eyes, deeper than mere blindness.

_'Is this what death feels like, Father? To be truly blind?'_

His head slumped forward.

* * *

A/N: I live! Many thanks to my Beta Neatstuff, working through Coronavirus circumstances and helping me brush up on so many things through these last four chapters. It seems like every time you go back and look, more is wrong.

Please check out the new One-shot I made for Zabuza, "The Demon of the Bloody Mist!" I plan to make it a bit of a side series to do origin stories like it for obscure characters. I think my next one will be Pakura since no one shows Suna characters any love. What do you guys think? Let me know, R&R!


	5. Running, Revelations, Old Friends

His armor had dents and holes at every joint and he was missing entire pieces from his breastplate because of that yokai blast. The skin that shined through was almost as red as his remaining armor: angry, nasty flesh covered by patches of scar tissue irritated beyond belief. The yokai had hit him like a bad sunburn, but Kokuō's chakra covered him just in time to prevent anything worse. In the ensuing steam and heat, he'd grabbed Rōshi and turned tail.

Han channeled his chakra into a superheated lance and ran straight through the trees, carving a circle through them and blowing the bark off the back. He didn't stop running, bowling through, or leaping over whatever obstacles nature had in his path.

He was running for survival.

Rōshi would be furious when he woke; losing was not something the lava user handled well. Han just prayed he didn't wake up until they were further away; No doubt, Rōshi would want to hunt the Akatsuki members down and melt them into pools of magma. He wasn't one for running or retreating.

Han, on the other hand, considered his own actions proper. He approached the Uchiha peacefully, and when that approach failed, he defended himself until the position became indefensible. They took no casualties and may have given one, depending on the Uchiha's health. Yet there was something wrong, something nagging at the back of Han's mind.

The weight on his shoulder felt oddly light, and while he knew it was a byproduct of the adrenaline still coursing through his veins, he couldn't help but be skeptical.

Han was moving so fast that he literally slid across a small river and let his momentum carry him to the bank, where he found a cluster of trees thick enough to hide his large frame and rest for a moment.

Han set Rōshi down carefully, hoping he wouldn't stir. Rōshi's body slumped into the earth and if the Jinchūriki's beard hair didn't shake like trees in the wind when he exhaled, Han would have thought he was dead. He breathed a sigh of relief; That fight was too close for comfort.

_'Best to let Ōnoki-sama know what has transpired. He won't be happy that his best team was manhandled by a Konoha missing-nin,' _Han thought, but his hands were already writing an official report:

Pre-mission complications, 1 shinobi injured in combat, requesting permission to abandon the mission, and report back to Iwagakure.

Signed,

Operative 1-4-9-J

He folded the scroll up and sealed it with a bit of chakra-reactive wax. Two latches on his left forearm armor snapped open, and the gauntlet fell with a _thud, _exposing a seal with the kanji for 'emergency_.' _Han took his index finger and channeled chakra into the red, faded seal. It glowed for a moment, and then a carrier pigeon popped into existence, shaking its wings out.

Han attached the message to the bird and off it flew, climbing higher and higher, eventually just a dark pinprick against the sky's baby blue. He looked back down at Rōshi's limp body. It was time to move out, to distance themselves.

In the sky above, a black crow with Sharingan eyes circled.

_Hours Later..._

The marshland's open expanse of water and high sawgrass was spotted with smaller and smaller clusters of trees the deeper Han got into the country. It was foreign to him to be this exposed. He was wearing bright red armor lugging a body over his shoulders and stomping through anything that got in his way- not exactly the stealthy getaway he wanted, but the distance was the key. He had been running ever since the morning.

It was dusk. The dying light of the sun cast a deep orange glow over the river Han was running over. The man on his shoulder had gotten much heavier as the sun above sank to meet the tips of distant trees. Han's metal boots were soaked from running over the numerous rivers and streams this country had to offer, but he pushed on. He had to make the most of his remaining sunlight to find a defensible position, a boulder or cave preferably, but Kawa no Kuni was in short supply of both.

He sighed miserably. As beautiful as Kawa no Kuni could be when the sunlight reflected off the swift currents of water and the whippoorwills danced above it, Iwa was the mistress he missed most. With impregnable mountains to the North and East and soil so rocky that gravel mines outnumbered farms, she was a tough mistress to invade and even tougher to love. But playing hard to get was as old as time itself.

Han's footsteps lost power as he thought of his Motherland: Iwa's beauty was not in its face. It required a deeper connection than to simply look at the land and claim it. It required you to work it endlessly and wear it down over time, like the fate of walkway stones left in disrepair. The _patience _and the _passion _necessary to survive in what others would call desolate mountain ranges are what make Tsuchi no Kuni citizens proud of their heritage. Stone is hard to break, and so are Tsuchi no Kuni's people.

He shrugged his shoulders to readjust Rōshi's dead weight. It spread out more evenly across his back and more onto his right side. Han groaned as the entire left side of his back slackened after being tensed the last few hours. It needed a break. Hell, he needed a break.

The red giant broke through a particularly thick dense of wilderness and hit his break; He quite literally ran into it face first. Falling back with the additional weight, plus his fatigue, forced Han to the ground with a _plop! _He groaned again. His body hurt. The wet earth below him was not as comforting as he thought it would be.

He blinked his eyes open and stared up at an expanse of beautiful granite, black streaking through the rock like cursed lightning. He let Rōshi's body rest on the soft earth and pulled himself to his feet to study the strange rock. His hand ran over its face with familiarity: coarse, rough rock, so it's been here a while, but not long enough to be smoothed over due to rain or moisture in the air. He snapped his hand back and looked around warily; This rock was _put here_ within the last decade.

But why? Why would someone stick a shark fin-like granite boulder in the middle of a marsh? And why did the black streaks start to glow and burn?

The streaks began to lock together, and in his horror, Han realized it was a seal! He dove on top of Rōshi to cover his body. The seal broke the same moment Han dived, and in the ensuing ripple of chakra, Rōshi's body shimmered a muted orange.

White light flooded the dimming marsh, and Han's eyes felt the brightness even behind his eyelids. It faded a moment later, and Han looked up to see a cutout in the rock just large enough for him to squeeze through with a staircase leading down into darkness.

He knew he shouldn't go in. He knew that whatever this rock was, it was foreign and probably _dangerous. _He knew he should just pick Rōshi up and keep running and try to find somewhere else to rest but-

The last vestiges of the sun sank below the sawgrass, and all was dark. The black hole in front of him begged him to enter. So, he did. Whatever was waiting for him in there was in for a world of pain- the _Jōki no Jinchūriki _was tired of running.

* * *

A certain black crow's Mangekyō Sharingan sputtered out, its connection to the target breaking. When its eyes resembled coals from a forgotten fire, it flapped its wings back the way it came, beating the air with strong, smooth strokes. _Mission accomplished_.

* * *

With Rōshi over his shoulders, Han stepped down the stairway for what felt like an eternity. The interior was a pitch-black not unlike a deep cavern, which Han had plenty of experience within Iwa.

The sweat on Han's neck turned cooler the deeper he went. By the time his feet hit a smooth, stone bottom, his sweaty skin was frosting over. His footsteps echoed, signaling that the bottom was an expanse of at least 300 feet, probably more. In the distance, a blinking yellow glow drew his attention.

Despite his many experiences of surviving ambushes screaming at him to send a _Futton Bunshin, _he instead plodded towards the soft light, a simple moth to a flame. To his pleasant surprise, it really was a flame, but it was sputtering out. Like an addict with a fix in sight, Han kept his eyes on the flame and set Rōshi down hard. The light flame gave his closer leg an orange hue. Han did a set of seals and softly blew into the flame, stroking, molding his chakra to be warm like the fire, to be dense like the air. His chakra-laden breath breathed life into the fire and its intensity caught Han fully.

It also caught Rōshi. But there was a problem: besides the slow-burning flames was _not _Rōshi. Han's body began to sweat even though the air was freezing and the _room itself _started to light up. Giant, flaming lines raced on opposite sides of the cavern until they connected in a vertical pillar on a far wall and bathed the room in their golden filter. Han didn't know why they came on, but it didn't matter.

Who had he carried all this way and kept safe all this time? How had he been tricked into rescuing the _wrong person_? Han's throat burned as the guilt made its way down his spine and settled like a boulder in a pond: too big, too much. He'd accidentally left his comrade, his unconscious _friend _on the battlefield, alone with the enemy. What happened to Rōshi? _And who the hell was that?_

He was chakra burnt head to toe with no upper body clothing, the last remains of orange pants on his left leg only, and no shoes to speak of. In his right hand, he clutched a slightly melted piece of metal caved in where his grip hadn't faltered despite the heat. His body looked emaciated and lanky with long arms, legs, and an almost unnaturally long torso. He couldn't have been more than a Genin, a child who'd hit a growth spurt, Han reckoned.

Yet, he could feel the power that bled from the boy's body. It made Han's eyebrows raise and his mouth go dry. Here he was, in some mysterious hideout in the middle of a foreign country with the Jinchūriki of his homeland's worst enemy, he was sure of it. Oh, and whoever's hideout this was probably alerted its owner to their presence if the flaming walls were any indication.

Han sat down by the fire for a moment across from the sleeping boy he'd brought here. He needed a moment to gather his thoughts and to rest. What to do with the boy, what to do about Rōshi, _how to get home? _

After an answerless, silent eternity, Han set to work building traps at the stairway landing and placing tags along the floor around the fire. Someone would come for him here. He would be ready to welcome them home.

Or welcome them to Hell.

* * *

Itachi Uchiha was sure he had died. He had burned his eyes out in a last-ditch, herculean, impossibly disguised effort to keep the Kyuubi away from the Akatsuki and had, to the public, died a member of the world's most dysfunctional terrorist organization and was hated by anyone and everyone around him. If not for Sasuke, Itachi would have accepted that with the peace that walks hand in hand with imminent, deserved death.

Instead, he sighed.

"Ne, Itachi," Kisame said, voice low and measured. "I've got some fish here if you'd like."

Itachi's eyes stayed shut. _'No time for daydreaming, I suppose.'_ His skull burned with every grease bubble _pop_ he heard. He was touched the ex-Kiri-nin was cooking the fish for him, though. Kisame usually just slurped the filets down after buying them from the markets.

"Thank you, Kisame. Move it to the side of the pan. I'm afraid my eyes are too damaged to properly check its doneness." Itachi didn't need his eyes to feel Kisame worry, but he'd eat when he could see what he was eating. He'd eaten a raw fish filet _once _at Kisame's behest, and never would it happen again. It'd almost ruined fish for him altogether.

Itachi heard Kisame grunt, and the familiar rattle of pans in an enclosed space made his ears ring louder than they should have. In an instant, he knew exactly where he was and what building he was in: the hideout/ abandoned temple sat in the center of the ruins of a small, dusty old town inhabited by more weeds than people. Its soil was too dry to grow anything of agricultural importance and the flora and fauna were, in a word, distasteful to the average human. In short, it was the perfect location for an Akatsuki hideout. '_The Eastern Kaze no Kuni border hideout. I have been unconscious for a while.' _Itachi breathed; The air was too dry to be anywhere else.

Kisame's voice flooded the room. "We make a scene in Konoha and then destroy a building in some random town to get the Kyuubi brat, only to watch him be dragged away by another target. What's your angle, Uchiha? Was it something those eyes of yours helped you see?"

Itachi thought about sighing again, but his chest burned. "These eyes do not help with common sense, Kisame. In fact, they may even hinder it. '_If an eye causes you to sin, it is better to discard the eye, than to let the body perish in Hell,'_" he quoted.

Kisame's silence was louder than the cooking fish. Unspoken questions were his specialty.

"The Book of Jashin," Itachi answered dryly.

"I didn't take you as religious, Uchiha."

"Hidan's teachings must be rubbing off."

If it was a joke, Kisame didn't laugh. His brow was slightly furrowed and his cold, blue lips sat sealed in reverent attention. He didn't want to banter, he wanted to plan.

Itachi began. "We cannot seal the Kyuubi at the moment. Being the strongest of the Biju and subsequently the one with the most chakra, we'd need the other eight to balance it properly within the statue. The Hachibi is the same way; we'd need at least the Ichibi and Nibi in order to seal it without serious repercussions. We have neither, but the Yonbi will suffice."

The bandages that wrapped around Kisame's forearm muscles groaned in disagreement. Itachi was sure his blue-skinned partner knew all too well about the power of the Kyuubi now, even if he'd only felt a fraction of its total power.

"So, taking the Kyuubi brat now would have just made one of us into a glorified babysitter for however long it would take to get the other containers," Kisame pieced together.

Itachi nodded, then coughed. "If we were to only take the Iwa Jinchūriki, then Naruto would have been recaptured by Konoha ninja and would be out of our grasp again, maybe permanently. As the situation falls currently, the Gobi will be smart enough to avoid Konoha like the plague he was taught it was."

"I will call Leader-sama," Kisame said. Itachi heard Kisame's cloak struggle against Samehada's weight. The leather strap that wrapped itself around Kisame also sounded as if it was close to giving up. It had either been damaged in combat or simply put through its paces lately; It would need to be replaced soon, like Itachi. If his eyes _really _went out before Sasuke got to him, it was game over. He needed to be more careful.

Itachi sat up, eyes still closed, as Kisame clicked his hologram on. Itachi heard other holograms awaken and soon the meeting began. Awkward silence reigned over the group until Pain cleared his throat.

"Kisame, I assume you have sufficient reason to call this meeting," he monotoned.

"Yes, Leader-sama. Itachi and I have captured the Yonbi Jinchūriki. However, the Gobi and the Kyuubi Jinchūriki eluded us in the ensuing battle. I am afraid Itachi," Kisame paused, "and I are no longer fit to track them down. They fled further south."

The hum of the holograms made Itachi nervous. By now, Deidara should have cut in with his useless blabbering-

"Ha! The Uchiha looks like he was put through his paces, un! It's a shame I missed _that_," Deidara hissed. Itachi chose not to acknowledge him.

Hidan surprisingly cut in with a retort: "Shut your _mouths_, you dirty heathen! Lord Jashin sees your jealousy and considers you weak," Hidan yelled across the glowing figures.

Deidara growled.

"Kisame," Kakuzu grunted from across the bickering holograms, "if there are any bounties in the area, be sure to turn them in. We need more capital if we're going to invest in a hideout in Kaminari no Kuni." Itachi felt Kisame tense to answer, but the shark was too slow.

"Collect them yourself, Kakuzu," Pain cut in. Pain's voice made Deidara and Hidan hold insults on the tips of their tongues. "You and Hidan will intercept the Gobi and Kyuubi Jinchūriki in place of Itachi and Kisame. Leave the Nibi for Deidara and Sasori."

Kakuzu's silence betrayed his annoyance. Suddenly, Itachi felt his ring heating up. It pulsed six times before the heat faded from it. Had it pulsed a seventh time, it would've burned his finger.

Itachi didn't say a word; Kisame had noticed and knew exactly what it meant. He cut back into the conversation, this time a little more urgently. "Leader-sama, we just got word that our hideout in southern Kawa no Kuni has been opened by someone with access to Biju chakra. I would be very surprised if it wasn't our runaway targets."

The holograms crackled. "Kakuzu, Hidan, head there first, see what you find."

Kisame, almost as an afterthought, got one last jab at the Undead Duo, shouting, "Watch out for Jiraiya of the Sannin's toads! If they eat you, you might actually wish you could die!"

"Jiraiya of the Sannin is tailing them?" Even behind the darkness, Itachi could see Kakuzu's emerald eyes shimmer like golden coins. "He's worth a fortune..."

For a millisecond, Itachi felt something he'd never felt from their leader: _fear. _It manifested itself in the silence of Kakuzu's brazen disregard for human life, in Sasori's quiet 'breathing,' in the very deadness of the conversation.

Just as soon as it was born, it was eradicated. "If he stands in the way of peace, then he will know _Pain,_" their leader monotoned. The holograms abruptly died one by one, familiar buzzes cutting off like a strangled animal's last cry played on repeat.

"When will you be fit to travel?" Kisame asked. His voice echoed off the far wall, suggesting he was walking towards the entrance.

Itachi's eyes _burned. _"Tomorrow, though I'm afraid you'll have to do all the heavy lifting."

The _clink _of Samehada's scaled body coming down on Kisame's shoulder painted an image Itachi had seen many times. Kisame's spiky smile shone through Itachi's mind as clear as day itself. The flap of the hideout ruffled, and a second later Kisame was outside, no doubt extremely irritated by the beads of sand that were sweeping through his cloak.

_'Now is the time.' _Itachi's eyes remained close, but with a ram seal, he gained sight: a random crow perched atop the spire of the hideout became his host. With a flap of its wings, it took to the air, intent on intercepting Jiraiya with this new information. If it flew hard and fast, it would reach Jiraiya in a few hours. It was plenty of time before Hidan and Kakuzu would be able to cross even a quarter of Hi no Kuni, but the bigger the cushion, the better.

Jiraiya and his allies running into Hidan and Kakuzu would be... less than ideal, especially if Sasuke was still traveling with Jiraiya. Kakuzu might even go out of his way to try and kill them, bounty or not; Konoha was right behind Taki on his very public village shit-list.

The crow increased its speed. Its black feathers masqueraded into the darkening landscape and became nothing to no one, a shadow, a speck, a dot in the sea of black. Up above, the rising moon refused to reflect any light, as if it were too tired to do its job.

The crow flew on.

* * *

Sasuke's Sharingan had not turned off for six hours.

The visceral shock of seeing such a decimated landscape had unlocked a piece of him not present since Zabuza, the thing in the back of his mind that teetered between a 'nothing left to lose' adrenaline boost and a soul-crushing fear of power he might never achieve. Safe to say, the latter was impressed upon him heavily.

He couldn't turn it off no matter what he did.

He meditated, he brooded, he stretched, he closed his eyes. He even went so far as to try talking, but without Naruto, talking was impossible. Funny how the things you hate the most turn into creature comforts. He decided to keep combing the area for a hint, a clue, _something _to let him know Naruto was ok or where to find him. Even in the pitch-black darkness that the campfire's light couldn't penetrate, Sasuke saw everything, _everywhere_: angry, fiery chakra of three different red hues with another, calmer blue chakra waterlogging every felled tree in the muddy valley. The foreign chakras stuck to the trees, to the ground, to the _puddles of water _that shouldn't exist because it hadn't rained in weeks.

This had been the battle site, the ANBU explained. A skilled Suiton user had blanketed the area in water-

'_Hoshigaki Kisame, Itachi's partner'_

_ -_and then battled with a group that had special chakra-

'_Naruto, of course... but who else has red chakra? It couldn't all be his, could it?'_

_ -_and the only things remaining from the battle were two wet, identical, barely-viable scent trails going in opposite directions, one northwest and one south.

_'Which one is yours, you idiot?'_

His feverish searching made the others queasy; he could _feel _ the ANBU that sat around their own fire off to the side of Jiraiya's were giving him wary glances; Their bodies would tense when his Sharingan rolled through them and caught them watching him. His bloodred eyes burned in the darkness and his skulking figure appeared like an Oni from a child's nightmare, hopping spot to spot, kneeling, shifting, bounding, twisting, searching-

"Oi! Kid! Come here," Jiraiya shouted. His voice carried heavily over the muddy expanse. Sasuke turned his attention back to the campfire and trotted over, careful not to get mud on his leg wrappings.

Dwindling firelight made Jiraiya appear mythical. His broad shoulders and wide chest may have been covered, but the way his traps inclined into his head made one think of a bear, and the way the light left parts of him dark added to the mystery of his true profile. His legs were splayed out and the amount of ground they took up reminded Sasuke to never take a Toad Sage kick head-on. His face, however, was much less bear and much more middle-aged Shinobi.

"I appreciate the effort, but if the ANBU unit that _specializes in tracking _can't find anything else to specify which trail is Naruto's and not the bad guys', then we're shit outta luck. We'll have to wait for daylight and follow each trail further to see if there are any scent breaks or other clues," he said. His voice was tired, almost sad. Though his face seemed stoic, Sasuke's Sharingan couldn't help but notice the slightest curvature of his lips, the way his shoulders seemed tensed and drooping all at once, how his cheek muscles misfired when he sucked in a breath- he was hiding his emotions. Why? Sasuke balled his fists.

"And turn that damn thing off. You've gotta be exhausted by now," Jiraiya added. He poked at a few logs in the fire. He didn't even bother looking in Sasuke's general direction- the fire was seemingly more interesting than the last loyal Sharingan Konoha had in her possession. His arms shook with a wave of anger that sent ripples through his battered body.

Sasuke felt the last day catch up to him; His knees felt weak, his back and neck hurt, and the Sharingan was giving him a nasty headache. None of that compared to his crushed pride; First, Orochimaru had _toyed with him_, then Gaara, Itachi, Tsunade, and some nameless ANBU tracker all took their turns scoffing at his power, power it had taken him his entire _life_ to build. And yet here he was, not even worthy of a _glance_ from someone that Itachi took down in a single move. He felt like a stray dog that couldn't get any scraps. Beaten. Hopeless. '_Powerless,' _his subconscious whispered, _'weak, useless!'_

An animalistic growl escaped his throat and he lit into Jiraiya's sitting figure. "What are we doing just _sitting here?! _My brother is out there, Naruto is out there! I thought you were strong, I thought Tsunade was strong! I thought the ANBU were strong! _What is the problem?!_ Let's track these assholes down and _kill them_!" He was animated, out of breath, about out of chakra, and his sclerae had turned a startling black. The familiar dark markings refused to spread, however.

Jiraiya turned his eyes to Sasuke, finally. His body rose like the sun, slowly but steadily. It engulfed Sasuke's vision. Jiraiya crossed his arms over his chest. Tsunade whipped her tent flap open from behind Sasuke and stared swords through his back. She'd been listening, it seemed. He heard knuckles crack.

Across the clearing, the ANBU crouched, hands on their tanto hilts. It suddenly felt _very _hostile. The air cooled considerably and Sasuke stopped shaking. His anger wasn't gone, but it felt minuscule compared to the collective burning in those around him. A thought crept through Sasuke's brain as Jiraiya took a step forward: maybe he had overstepped just _a_ _little._

_ A little_ turned into _a lot_ when Jiraiya grabbed his shoulder with his bear paw of a hand and yanked him forward into the bigger man's chest. His words came out like whispers, but they cut like poisoned daggers. "Let me explain something you little attention-starved, egotistical, _desperate shadow_ of a Konoha Shinobi. If we pick the wrong trail and find your brother, he will _break you_. He and Kisame will undoubtedly kill some of us, too. Do you want that blood on your hands? You of all people should know how capable your brother is of _slaughtering _people." Jiraiya paused, his words marinating in the cool, humid air.

"He will _shatter you_ and kill you before any of us even have a chance to say otherwise. And I'll let him, because even with the best intentions, even with all the tools to succeed, even with others' lives at stake, you can't put aside your own greed and selfishness and do what's best for the team. You want to be an avenger so badly that you'll make martyrs out of anyone who even remotely cares about you, Naruto included. You're a disgrace to the Will of Fire." Pause. Silence. Wind in the outlying trees swept above them and tore leaves free from healthy branches.

The wind seemed to rip Sasuke's soul from his body and carry it away. He felt cold.

Jiraiya let go of him but shoulder-checked the frozen Uchiha as he stepped through him. "I used to be like you, kid. Too eager to fight. Unshakable. Thinking I was big enough to handle it all, to bear the weight of all the worlds' evils myself. But I'm not," he sighed, "and if I'm not, then you aren't, either." Jiraiya crossed the clearing and sat by the ANBU. Tsunade huffed and disappeared into her tent again, undoubtedly fuming.

Sasuke opened his mouth to respond, but nothing came out. The clearing faded back to the dull, natural colors that the world was outside of his red-tinted Sharingan lenses. His fists fell open and his fingers dangled like dead worms on old fishing hooks.

How had he gotten here? How had he rationalized attacking Itachi, a monster even their father didn't want to battle? How had he thought he was going to _win? _The Chidori and the Cursed Seal weren't enough to overcome Gaara- how did he think Itachi would fall to them?

Was he really that careless? His thoughts flashed to taking Haku's senbon for Naruto, to protecting Sakura in the Forest of Death. Where was _that _side of him? Had the Cursed Seal really degraded his judgment by so much so quickly?

The cold he felt ran down his neck and through his shirt like ice water veins. It beaded down his pale arms and cut through the middle of his palms, crossing from one side to the other, only to drip off his pinkie. A shift in the wind sent the cold into his dull eyes and for a moment, he didn't feel it.

He didn't feel the water on his face. He didn't feel the water on his face _because there wasn't any water on his face._

Sasuke's Sharingan spun back up and he tried his hardest to locate the Genjutsu caster without causing a scene. Were they under attack? Had Itachi and Kisame doubled back to eliminate their tail? The chakra around him wasn't Itachi's, and it didn't match the dense blue that coated the remaining water puddles from earlier in the day. No, this was someone else. The Genjutsu was like a shroud over the ANBU and Jiraiya, meant to mirror them simply sitting by the fire at rest.

His fear transfigured into betrayal; The odds of someone from outside those present casting a Genjutsu on him _as soon as his Sharingan turned off _were almost nonexistent, and the threat from another group of enemy Shinobi this deep into Hi no Kuni was equally laughable. His eyes gave the ANBU a once over again and saw through the Genjutsu that their hands were still on their blades, poised to strike.

'_But not at me anymore,' _Sasuke saw. Their body language pointed at something aerial, something above them. Their shoulders were tight, and their legs had excess chakra in them dying to be used to spring up. It seemed that either they had broken the Genjutsu and were aware of a threat, or they had performed it so Sasuke wouldn't notice something. But where was the caster?

A crow with red eyes swooped down and beelined for Jiraiya's outstretched arm. The crow landed softly, with a familiarity that was unbecoming of a common crow. It ruffled its feathers and bent its neck into Jiraiya's hand. The movement was obscured by Jiraiya's body, but the ANBU relaxed slightly, only slightly, for a moment before the crow sprung off Jiraiya's arm and zigged and zagged away into the outlying forest.

Sasuke had two broad questions for the rest of his sleepless night:

_'What is really going on here?' _

_'Did that crow have Sharingan eyes, or am I hallucinating?'_

* * *

The sun's early light hadn't yet touched the earth Sasuke laid under, but he awoke to a flurry of activity.

He peeked his head out his tent and activated his Sharingan; Distrust and betrayal boiled up in him and tasted bitter. He witnessed the ANBU rolling their packs up and sealing them away. The campfires were being doused with water and then the earth was transformed to look as plain as the surrounding landscape.

"Uchiha Sasuke, we are moving out soon. Please take any non-essential articles you have and dispose of them. We will be traveling at full speed for a while," the nearest ANBU, Lizard, said.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "Why? Did that crow tell you something last night?" He expected a tensing of the abdomen and the flexing of outlying digits. He got nothing.

Lizard's blank stare matched his lax body. Even in the face of Sasuke's young Sharingan, Lizard stood without a hint of deceit. "No. It told Jiraiya-sama something that even we ANBU are restricted from hearing. Hurry and pack your things; Jiraiya-sama is ready to move," he said as he walked over to Tsunade's tent and began deconstructing it.

'Move where?' Sasuke thought. Had they found Naruto? Was that what the crow was about?

Sasuke's eyes swiveled to a makeshift earthen table across the way. Over it stood Tsunade, Jiraiya, Shizune, and one of the ANBU. Jiraiya's usually unremarkable face was twisted in gnarled lines and his hands gestured aggressively to certain spots on the table. Curiosity piqued, Sasuke walked over.

From the way those at the table hushed their voices, his presence wasn't exactly welcome, but Shizune gave him a soft look and let him slide in next to her.

No one spoke, but they didn't need to. Sasuke was busy digesting the map in front of him. It was the natural lay of the land of Kawa no Kuni built into the table itself, complete with elevation points, points of interest, and areas to avoid in order to achieve the most efficient routes. Across from Sasuke's side of the table was a red X.

"Is that where Naruto is?" He asked breathlessly. Part of him had been certain his teammate was gone forever, vanquished by foes much stronger than Sasuke could ever dream of, snuffed out by heartless ninja like Itachi. Relief bubbled up from below and clashed with his earlier feelings.

"Maybe," Jiraiya replied. "I received word from a pretty trusted source that he could be here." He seemed to grimace. "And I also got word that if we don't find him within the next few days, then others from Akatsuki will. And we all know what happens then."

"What happens then?" Sasuke asked too quickly.

Tsunade answered first. "If they get to him before we do, they take him hostage or kill him." Shizune's eyes went wide and it seemed like she was waiting for something to happen, for someone to say something specific.

Sasuke pressed the issue.

"Why? What is so special about him? I don't understand. He's strong, but what separates him from everyone else, from me, so much that my brother wants him?" He wished he hadn't said anything before the ANBU gripping the side of the table accidentally broke a chunk off the edge. Their faces became tight, their lips curled inwards, even Tsunade bit the side of her cheek in an effort of restraint. Jiraiya sighed and the table became dust. He chuckled for a second. His mood switched from stoic to exuberant so quickly, Sasuke wondered if he was Bipolar.

"I think it'd be best if you heard it from Naruto himself. I'm sure he'll tell you all about it when we get him. But we have to get him first, so let's go," Jiraiya said with a wide smile. The smile was fake. The optimism was fake. His words were... somewhere between fake and real. He pivoted 180 degrees and began sprinting for the trees. Tsunade and Shizune shared a look; Tsunade shrugged and ran after him. Their sandals sloshed in the mud until they hit the tree line, followed in hot pursuit by the ANBU. The sun started to peek over the trees and a certain shade of orange put a film over the exposed earth.

Sasuke shook himself out of his trance and made to catch up. There were things that were hidden from him, but they weren't always going to be that way. He was going to find out the truth in all this deception. And it all started with his off-the-wall teammate.

'Who are you really, Uzumaki Naruto?'

* * *

Naruto sat up and rubbed his eyes, ignoring the metallic clank next to him and the awfully breezy room he was in. "Aw man, that was a crazy dream... It felt so real!"

"Did it, child?" A deep, reverberating voice made his hands shoot down to anchor him into the floor while his eyes exploded open. Firelight danced over an immense figure no more than five feet from him.

"Who are you?! Where am I?! Where's Pervy Sage?!" Naruto growled. He was a little afraid of the red behemoth across from him, but if this guy hurt Pervy Sage, then it was on. Gaara was much scarier and Naruto had beaten him. Besides, his 'captor' looked pretty beat up. Yeah, he could take him!

"It is rude to not introduce yourself before asking someone's name. Especially when that someone saved your life," the giant said evenly. The only visible portion of his face, his eyes, sat as still as dead fish in a stagnant pond.

Naruto crossed his arms over his chest defiantly. "Looks to me like you took a hostage to save your own skin!"

"Hostage? Tell me, which part of you am I restricting from motion?"

Naruto stuttered, grasping for metaphorical straws. "Well we're obviously in your, like, evil lair or something, right?" Naruto asked, realizing he was indeed free to move but also still untrusting of his companion. The fire on the walls matched the giant's red armor, and such a big, empty room would make sense for someone as big as him.

His eyebrow raised. "My evil lair? I'd have to be evil to have an evil lair; wouldn't you agree?"

"Well yeah, and I think you're evil!"

His eyebrow remained raised. "And what about me makes me evil? Is it my appearance? My tone? How do I know you're not evil, Konoha-san?"

Naruto clenched his teeth. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto, and I can't be evil! I'm from Konoha, the best Ninja village in the world! We're the good guys," he said. He stuck a thumb into his chest to emphasize.

His light brown eyes closed sharply. "There are no 'good guys' in this w-"

"You haven't met my friends, then! Or any Konoha Shinobi not named Itachi or that creep Orochimaru!"

His eyes reopened, but instead of the neutral expression he displayed earlier, this one was more pointed, more angry- like Sasuke when he argued back, only many times scarier. The firelight danced between their locked stare; it was the only thing moving in the room.

"I've met plenty," he said.

Naruto read this like he'd read Sasuke, who only spoke like that when he knew he was wrong, which wasn't often. Like all those times, Naruto tried to stab a little deeper.

"Ha! Then you know I'm right!" He smirked. The eyes across from him didn't shift. They stayed locked with his own, but they seemed to rise to the ceiling as the man stood up across the flames.

He was several feet taller than Naruto when he stood erect. His wide-brimmed, metallic sun hat made a slicing shadow across the ceiling of the room. His disheveled armor somehow made him more intimidating, and that coupled with his thousand-yard stare into the blonde's own eyes cut a very imposing scene.

"I'll tell you what I know. During the Third Shinobi World War, in Iwa, where I'm from," he said, pointing to his Hitai-ate, "Konoha ninja were publicly tied to stakes and burned to death."

Naruto's jaw dropped. How had he never been told about that from Iruka? It was possible he had missed it in the academy but... "No... No way. You're just messing with me! You're making that up. No one deserves to be burned to death. What's wrong with you people?! How could anyone deserve something so horrible?"

"I'm glad we agree, Naruto. But would you agree that your Yondaime massacring 1,000 Shinobi in a single attack is what Iwa deserved? Many died running away. Stabbed in the back."

"But the Yondaime was protecting his comrades-"

"It didn't look like protection from my point of view," Han said quietly.

Naruto's jaw hung dead, like a mouse caught in a hawk's talons. "You... you were there?"

Han nodded. "We were mounting a full-scale frontal assault. The picket line was two miles long. We were going to push into Hi no Kuni until we met sufficient resistance, then terraform a channel straight to the Daimyo's Estate. A group led by the Tsuchikage himself would then lead a quick-strike squad to capture the Daimyo and force Konoha into surrendering," Han explained. The earth next to Naruto rose and crumpled into a live-action model of Han's words.

"But we never even stepped a hundred feet into Hi no Kuni. The first 100 men, who'd fought for more years than you've been alive, died faster than it takes you to sip water. He was everywhere; His tags were hidden in every tree, every clear patch of dirt... He'd tag a Shinobi and let them run back to the reserves, where he'd appear and slaughter them," Han said. His eyes were far away, stuck in a memory. "I'm fortunate I survived."

"Wait a minute," Naruto said, "How do I know you're not making all this up?! You talk a lot for somebody from a different village! You could be trying to trick me!" Naruto's gaze hardened and his attitude shifted. "Give me one reason why I should trust you!"

Han didn't move until Naruto snorted in derision. Slowly, he reached for his face mask. Naruto braced for an attack of some kind, but instead the mask unbuckled and fell to the stone floor with a loud, empty clang. The faded red sealing matrix on Han's left cheek laid atop a splotch of scar tissue that reached up from his neck and stretched across his chin from ear to ear. He didn't let Naruto gawk in silence for long.

"This is the Hiraishin Seal. I got it that day. When your Yondaime was alive, it was known as the mark of death to my people. Those who were marked weren't allowed within the village, so long as he lived. We celebrated a second chance at life when he died," Han said. His mouth twisted into odd shapes as he talked. The scar tissue hindered his lips from moving normally.

Naruto was shocked someone's body could be so mutilated. Had the Yondaime done that to him? He couldn't have, he was the greatest Hokage of all time... Was he? Did he really kill people retreating, running away? Thoughts swirled in his mind like water circling a drain, until the drain backed up and all this new information sat at the top of his mind

Naruto's voice shook. "So, all that stuff about the Yondaime, about burning people on stakes... that's real, then?"

Han looked deep into the faces of the flames. "I'm the one that lit the fires."

* * *

A bloody trail extended down the mountain path. It originated from an armless woman being dragged by her once-vibrant hair, now matted in blood and dust. Her black-cloaked, silver-haired captor and his massive triple-bladed scythe stepped peacefully along the path. He whistled a high tune to drown out the woman's low groans.

"Hidan," Kakuzu, the other black-cloaked menace, called out from further down the trail, "quit playing with your food. Hurry and kill her before we reach the next town."

Hidan stopped his whistling to snort. "Jashin's food! Besides, this one knew very little suffering before we found her. Once we reach the border of Kaminari and Hi no Kuni, she should be nice and ready to accept Jashin into her heart."

Kakuzu snorted back. "The tip of your blade will be the only thing entering her heart. You act like she's willingly accepting death."

"You don't see her fighting back, do you?"

"You didn't leave her with anything to defend herself with," Kakuzu noticed. Her nubby shoulders had been cauterized to prevent her from bleeding out, but some red liquid still leaked free.

Hidan scowled and twisted his gaze away. Kakuzu could be an amazing Jashinist if he wasn't such a degenerate, greedy piece of garbage. He was the worst kind of heathen- a cheating heathen! He thought he achieved a sort of immortality outside of Jashin, like that fool Orochimaru had claimed to do.

But where Orochimaru was a slimy worm of a man who destroyed others' souls so that Jashin couldn't receive them, Kakuzu carried the pain of four souls at the same time. His pain was magnified by quality and quantity, by time and amount. One day, Hidan would make sure Jashin feasted on Kakuzu's amassed pain. But until then, he would relish being in the company of someone who could shoulder so much suffering at once.

"Jashin doesn't require ability," Hidan lectured, "only pain. Only the knowledge and experience of suffering." He smiled ear to ear as he thought about his God, his wonderfully brutal, honest God. The woman groaned in agreement with his reverent thoughts.

If she could agree with him, then why couldn't Kakuzu? Couldn't he see the sacredness that was life in service to a God? He worshipped paper, for crying out loud! Paper money! That burns easily! He huffed; His beloved sacrifice responded in kind, only much louder.

"Hidan, I'm going to sew both your mouths shut if you don't stop espousing your nonsense."

That did it. "Nonsense!? You wretched, idol-worshipping, empty-hearted fool! When Jashin's ultimate sacrifices are met and he returns to walk this earth, I will ask of him one thing: To burn all money into du-!"

Wormlike appendages shot out from under Kakuzu's cloak and weaseled their way into and out of Hidan's upper and lower lip. They stitched together before Hidan could stop them, and their grip remained iron-clad even after Hidan used his own scythe to try and slice them open.

His eyes narrowed dangerously; He would pay Kakuzu back for this sin. One day, his scythe would find the soft spot Kakuzu held for money and earthly possessions, and then he would see Jashin open that spot into a massive, bleeding tear.

And then Hidan and his God would rip out all of Kakuzu's beating hearts at once! The thought made him giggle.

Kakuzu kept walking, not completely unaware that the machinations of his demise were at work behind him.

* * *

Peace reigned in his decrepit prison.

One could say the Kyuubi no Kitsune was having a good time, despite having his life force sucked from his own being slowly by a rogue piece of paper. Kurama tasted the world today, something he hadn't done in over a decade. It'd hurt terribly to be assaulted by so many senses so suddenly, but it was like being sore after, perhaps, going for a long run or razing an entire civilization to ash- it made him feel good, alive.

He sat curled in a ball of fire and comfort behind the seal, behind his now-rusting prison. Scabby vines of deep orange spiraled around the once-gleaming iron pillars like they were a fungus on a tree or a parasitic vine.

He let his fangs show with a wide smile. He supposed, in that case, that he would be the parasite infecting his young host. And when this seal had all it could take of him, he'd simply die and spend ninety years regathering himself, and then be reborn during the first great wildfire after those ninety years.

Not that he'd died before- besides that Sage rip-off with the wood, who could kill him? - he was just reciting what his father told him a millennium ago. The old man had never been wrong, and Kurama doubted he would simply make such things up.

Kurama loved him the most out of his siblings. Shukaku, that damned Tanuki, had hated their father passionately. In their infancy, the siblings had all joked that Shukaku was just the excess chakra leftover from Gyūki's shit, and that was the reason his body was made of sand instead of something whole, something biological (the same could be said for Matatabi, but everyone got along with her). This, of course, did not sit well. Shukaku often threw fits that involved sandstorms, an ever-changing landscape, and tornados that crossed into others' territories.

Watching Shukaku get shut down by the child had been a real joy to see. Kurama only wished Naruto had aimed for the throat, not the head; Maybe spending ten years in the desert by himself, recharging, would have done the tan Tanuki some good. Hell, Kurama had only been out for a moment, and he felt reinvigorated!

Just then, a presence entered his consciousness. It made his long limbs stretch open and tense in violent anticipation. His animalistic war instincts activated, and for the first time in a long time, he was on edge. He'd felt this power before, this unique, infuriating chakra. He growled low and quiet, eyes scanning everywhere for a flash of hair. He heard him before he saw him, and Kurama's eyes shot left because it couldn't be him, it couldn't be!

"Oh geez! Kushina is gonna kill me!"

In the flesh was Namikaze Minato, with that stupid blonde hair and his even stupider face, looking crestfallen at his undone handiwork. His hands brushed against the iron bars like he was cradling a newborn's face (not that he had much experience with that), and he seemingly paid no mind to the most powerful known being in human history that also killed him a mere dozen feet away. Kurama growled louder, this time enough to shake the mindscape.

It felt like disrespect. Yes, Kurama was imprisoned, but this was his cell, his arena. The Yondaime had no true power here-

"Oh, hey furball. Just one second, then I'll give you a treat!" His sky-blue eyes never even brushed over the fox. They were instead focused on the seal matrix, on that little slip of paper that was trying desperately to hold all of Kurama's unchecked anger in place. And the longer he saw that blonde hair shake as his head turned, the angrier he got.

Minato was treating him like a domesticated pet, or a prized heifer. Kurama snarled. His right claw shot forward, gliding towards his visitor. Minato had barely turned his head when Kurama's massive claws were upon him. He squeezed hard until he heard the soft crunching of human bones between his padded digits. Out of his massive hand crumbled rocks, and a clicking sound emanated from behind.

"Where's the hospitality you're so known for? Besides, you didn't think it'd be that easy, did you?" He could feel the shit-eating grin on the blonde man's face.

Kurama's sinister chuckle reverberated off the metal bars and made a harsh grating sound like he'd pulled his claws down a chalkboard. **"It was the last time. I seem to remember gutting you and your wife all at once. You looked like little piglets on a skewer."**

"Well, that is... awfully graphic!" Minato replied, flashing back in front of the seal. "But I'm afraid there'll be no pig roasts today, fuzzy. We're both just chakra in here. I can't hurt you; you can't hurt me."

Kurama smiled a horridly wide smile. "Want to test that theory, Yondaime? I'd love to try."

The Yondaime, to his credit, looked unperturbed. He was apparently very confident in his half-broken seal. What a cocky bastard!

"As entertaining as this reunion has been, I'd prefer it if you didn't interrupt the chat I'm about to have with my son, so," Minato's hand was suddenly holding a white piece of paper.

Kurama's left eyebrow rose. What was this? Another seal? What was he planning to do?

His eyes matched Kurama's, and he gave a smirk as he slammed the paper atop the existing seal. The mindscape flashed white like a bomb had just detonated. Kurama drew back and covered himself with his tails. Seals had a way of having unintentional consequences, and Kurama was willing to bet the two seals mixing wouldn't be very much fun for him.

The light faded and Kurama peeked. His ancient eyes spotted the wave of chakra covering the outside of his cell, distorting everything. It was like being inside a bubble, only opaquer.

He huffed and rolled his eyes, settling back down on the floor, as he was before the Yondaime's visit. Of course, one of the three men to ever stalemate him in battle would be so dramatic as to spring from the jaws of death and be reborn in his son's stomach.

Luckily for Kurama, the Yondaime's chakra would be used up soon, so he wouldn't have to share this place with him. While he despised the Yondaime, he did have to admit that seeing him again, even if only for a moment, felt good. It reminded him of reality.

It reminded him of all the blood he was owed.

* * *

A/N: Back to drop this BOMB of a chapter before school starts back up. Seriously, this thing is double my usual word count.


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